Battle of Coruscant
by Alchemist1917
Summary: 19 BBY. The Battle of Coruscant is underway, with the soldiers of the Republic fighting for their very lives to defend the capital planet. Into this maelstrom of violence Taran and Ahsoka find themselves in the thick of it, pressed on all sides by their Separatist foes. Produced for release on 5/4. May the 4th be with you.
1. Invasion

All around, Jedi and Temple Security Forces scurried around. Jedi pilots rushed to starfighters in the hangar while others took speeders to get to the military installations that dotted Coruscant or towards the transports that were landing or already landed with droid forces moving out of them.

Taran and Ahsoka, Taran shedding off his cloak on the way, ran to find Master Windu. Luckily, they were able to catch him on the first floor of the Temple about to leave the Temple with the other high-ranking Jedi generals.

"Master Windu, wait!" said Taran. Windu heard him and turned to see what the problem was.

"Taran, say what you have to quickly," said Windu.

"Master Windu, I want to help," said Ahsoka.

"You don't have to fight anymore Ahsoka," said Windu.

"But I can't just sit back and watch all you go out there and risk your lives. This invasion is planet-wide, and there aren't enough Jedi to go around," said Ahsoka. Windu took a deep breath, weighing his option.

"Your specialty was always in persuasion," said Windu.

"I had some good teachers," she said, glancing over to Taran with a smile on her face.

"You're old lightsabers are in the storage vault near the Construction Chamber. Re-equip yourself and check in with Master Shaak Ti before she goes to the Chancellor's Office. Hurry, there's no time to lose," said Windu.

"Thank you Master Windu," said Ahsoka.

"May the Force be with you master," said Taran.

"And to the both of you," said Windu, turning to leave with the other masters. At once, they took off to the lightsaber storage vault on the top level of the Temple. Ahsoka could feel the fear emitting from everyone as they hurried in various directions. She too had been seized with fear when she and Taran had first spotted the Separatist ships. Yet, their initial panic was replaced by determination. They had two years of battlefield experience under their belts and knew how to counter droid forces.

Even when they were heavily outnumbered.

They were able to reach the storage vault after ten minutes of ceaseless running, daring not to take the elevator in case the Temple was directly attacked, which for some reason hadn't been hit despite the Separatist droid starfighters that flew by in formation from time to time. Ahsoka searched for her name amongst the hundreds of lightsabers until she came to it. She opened the storage box and slid out the tray. Her two lightsabers, her regular saber and shorter shoto. She gazed at them for a long moment.

"Something wrong?" said Taran.

"It feels like a lifetime since I last picked them up. I thought when I handed them over, it would be the last time," said Ahsoka, still looking at them. She reached in and held the two metal hilts up. She placed the box down and held each hilt in a different hand. She pressed the button on each to ignite them at the same time. She spun them in a whirlwind fashion, testing their weight and if she still had the skill to wield them.

"Just a little rusty, but nothing I can't handle," said Ahsoka.

"Good," said Taran. They left the vault immediately, preparing to get down to the hangar.

"Wait, I should get my other lightsaber," said Taran. They took a detour towards the Padawan Quarters. Even from inside the Temple they could hear the blasts outside. They could even remotely feel the concussive effects of the blasts. They stopped outside his room, Taran rapidly going in once the door slid open. He grabbed his lightsaber, stopping for a moment to look at it. He had made it specifically to counter Ceran's lightning-fast attacks, having one lightsaber ready in case one of his got past.

_"Ceran,"_ he thought. Another blast from outside snapped him out of it, clipping it to his belt alongside his original lightsaber. He also took his staff with him as well. Once outside and Ahsoka hurried to the hangar.

Inside the hangar, Jedi of various ranks from Padawan to Master were rapidly boarding gunships that would take them to military installations. Any fighters, the Eta-2 _Actis_-class Interceptor, had already flown out and were probably outside fighting the relentless waves of droid starfighters. As they rounded a corner, they ran into the younglings.

"Taran, Ahsoka, what's going on?" said Petro.

"The planet's being invaded. You six go to Master Sinube," said Taran.

"But we can help," said Zatt.

"Absolutely not. Stay in the Temple," said Ahsoka.

"But we've fought before," said Katooni.

"I know, but you're not old enough or ready for this. This is a full-fledged battle. Thousands of people are going to die in various ways. Please stay here, for us," said Ahsoka. The six of them nodded.

"We will be back, you can count on that," said Taran, flashing his reassuring grin.

"Take care, and stay safe," said Ahsoka, the two of them heading back towards the hangar.

In the hangar, Bruck and Tia had just arrived. Shaak Ti was helping to coordinate the movements of the Jedi, giving them where to go out and hold the Separatist forces. Her own shuttle was waiting patiently nearby, Jedi Masters Roron Corobb and Foul Moudama inside with a large group of clone troopers to protect the Chancellor.

"This is like a nightmare come true," Tia said to Bruck.

"I'm still trying to figure out how they got in to the planet without detection," said Bruck. At that moment, Taran and Ahsoka came in.

"You're fighting?" said Bruck to Ahsoka.

"Yes, why wouldn't I?" said Ahsoka.

"You three, get to...Ahsoka?" said Shaak Ti.

"Master Windu gave me permission to fight," said Ahsoka. Though still surprised, the Togruta Jedi Master smiled.

"I need all four of you to get to the southern military base. Once there, go to wherever help is needed the most," said Shaak Ti.

"We will master," said all four of them.

"May the Force be with you," she said. They immediately embarked on a gunship with some clone troopers and other Jedi inside. Suddenly, a flurry of beeps and whistles caused the passengers to look in its direction. R3 was hurriedly making his way to the gunship.

"Come on R3," said Taran. The droid whistled again, rapidly moving and getting into the gunship. Once at full capacity, the shuttle doors closed shut and the gunship moved into a hover before it was off. The doors were tightly closed, no one able to see the conditions outside.

The sounds of multiple explosions and blasts echoed throughout the ship. They could hear the tell-tale sounds of Interceptors, V-wings and ARC-170s fly by, as well as Vulture droids and tri-fighters. The sounds of dogfights echoed around them, including a passing missile or two. Some of the occupants, Padawan-learners by the look of of them, would flinch with every blast. They clearly had not been in a battle before. Everyone else was quiet and stone-faced. They were veterans of countless campaigns and battles.

A nearby explosion careened the gunship sharply to the side, making everyone lose balance for a split-second before they regained their footing. R3 whirred in alarm before he too settled down.

"Touching down in 30 seconds," said the clone pilot over the intercom. Below them, Taran could feel the masses of countless beings running in confusion, or else fighting for their lives. He could also feel the cold precision of the droids as well. For once, he was thankful the doors were closed. However, he knew that soon he would be in the thick of it.

The clone pilot in the gunship could see everything outside. A gunship immediately in his 11 o'clock position was hit by laser fire from a passing Vulture droid, exploding in mid-air as the wreckage plummeted to the surface. He took a calm, relaxing breath, putting the gunship's engines to the max. Up ahead, he could see the military complex. The complex had both a barracks and a naval yard built into each other, starfighters of all kinds flying out as fast as they could. He brought the gunship to an steady altitude-decreasing dive, along with any other ones that had flown with them.

"10 seconds," he said. Bringing the gunship steadily down, he brought down to the ground as gently as he could, opening the shuttle doors. The gunship touched down, everyone racing off towards the barracks. Once the pilot knew everyone was off, he brought the gunship back in a hover and took off. He didn't get far though. A lone tri-fighter flew through, it's blasters opening up on the transport. It exploded in mid-air, falling back down to the surface.

Inside the base, there was was madness as clone squads formed up and were sent out to sectors of the planet that needed aid the most. Walkers of all kinds were sent out, the most abundant being AT-RT walkers that raced off when orders were given by their squad leader. Inside, a human Jedi Master was coordinating movements, a large 3D map scan of the surrounding area on display.

"Who's covering the bridge to the Senate District?"

"Last I checked, Master Yoda was heading towards the area," said a clone captain.

"And others?"

"All units are still scattered," said the captain. "The enemies blocking transmissions on the HoloNet, so we're forced to use short-wave radio signals."

"Have all available starfighters scramble and try to clear up those Separatist starfighters." The Jedi looked to see the four of them enter.

"I need two of you padawans to pilot and assume command over a squadron and two of you to lead a squad on the ground," he said. "Deliberate on it and report to Captain Fort here."

"I'll take the ground," said Taran.

"So will I," said Tia.

"Wait, I want to go with you," said Ahsoka.

"So do I," said Bruck. The two couples split off a short-distance away to deliberate between themselves.

"Why do you want me to go into the air?" said Ahsoka.

"Because in all honesty, you're a better pilot then I am," said Taran.

"So now you admit it?" said Ahsoka, a small grin on her face. Taran and her shared a small smile.

"Okay, but be careful," said Ahsoka. A small distance away, Bruck was conferring with Tia.

"I'd feel a lot better if you flew," said Bruck.

"I know you do, but out of the two of us your strength is with flying. Besides, I have Taran with me. We'll both be fine," said Tia. Though he still hated it, Bruck nodded anyway. The four of them went towards Captain Ford, identified by his red markings and extended shoulder pauldrons.

"Alright, we have two Interceptors for your use. Hurry and get in them. Ground team will move out in five minutes," said the captain. They nodded and went to the starfighters. Ahsoka's starfighter was a blue-color, Bruck's dark-red.

"Take R3 with you. I'll feel a lot better knowing you have him helping you," said Taran.

"I will," said Ahsoka, climbing into the cockpit. The astromech droid moved to the socket, hopping in with no difficulty and integrating himself into the system. Ahsoka turned on the starfighter.

"Be careful." said Ahsoka.

"Aren't I always?" said Taran. The two smiled, leaning in to kiss lightly before they leaned away, pressing their foreheads together and closing their eyes as if in deep meditation with each other. They spent a few seconds like this before they pulled back. At Bruck's fighter, the two of them were kissing repeatedly before they hugged one last time.

"Good luck," said Tia.

"You too. I love you Tia," said Bruck.

"I love you too," said Tia. At that they pulled apart, reluctantly going to their duties. Taran and Tia watched as the two starfighters hovered before they made their way to the center and took off into the skies of Coruscant. They watched them leave, feeling a part of themselves go with them,

"They'll be fine. They usually are," said Taran.

"Can't help but worry though," said Tia.

"Always," said Taran. They their way to one of assault units about to be sent down.

"Commanders, I'm sending you with this company composed of two AT-TE walkers and four AT-RT's. At the moment, we can't guarantee air support. Try and hold off the droids in the south," said Fort.

"Will do," said Taran. As they set out for the men, they were well aware of what was going on. If Coruscant were lost, it would spell the end of the war, with a victory ensured for the Separatists. The Jedi Order would be extinguished and the Sith would win it all.

_"As long as I'm alive, I'm not letting them through,"_ Taran thought.

And so, the Battle of Coruscant for the four of them, began.


	2. Battle in the Skies

"I'm on your wing," said Bruck.

"Copy that Bruck," said Ahsoka. She brought the fighter out of its steep incline, heading out to chase some fighters.

"Everything okay R3?" said Ahsoka. The astro-droid beeped, signalling all systems were positive.

"Alright, ready to go hunting Bruck?"

"Do you even have to ask?" said Bruck. Ahsoka smiled to herself. They flew towards the city zone in front of them. Up ahead, a squadron of five Vultures was flying past, shooting at buildings. Explosions from the impact of their blasters hit the buildings, sending them toppling down. Ahsoka gunned her engines towards them, Bruck following close behind. She aimed her blaster cannons on the lead Vulture. Once they were lined up, she took the shot. A volley of green blasts exited her cannons, each shot hitting the Vulture. It exploded in mid-air, a fireball forming as pieces of it went flying in every direction. The other four veered off, traveling in pairs to get away.

"I'll get the ones on the right. You get the ones on the left," said Bruck. They veered off, chasing after the droid fighters. The fighters Bruck was chasing flew down, nearly at street level. Bruck kept up the pursuit, determined to make sure that they did not escape. Below them, a desperate street battle between a full-armored company of droids and a few squads of clone soldiers aided by an AT-RT was taking place. The Vultures went through hairpin turns, weaving in between the various buildings to try and escape. Still Bruck followed them, barrel-roll turning past the buildings in his relentless pursuit.

His monitors would flash every time the Vultures would get into his gun's sights for a split second. He needed a good shot, knowing that a missed shot could instead slam into a building. He could still sense life-forms in them, knowing that the shots could possibly kill them. He reluctantly held his fire, his senses on high-alert, waiting for the right minute to strike. Suddenly, a Vulture peeled off in the opposite direction from its wingmen. Bruck let it go, knowing full well what it was going to do, staying on the last Vulture. The Vulture he was chasing shot into the air, giving Bruck the clear shot he needed as they swept past the skyscraper limits. His cannons fired, a few catching the Vulture and sending it on a flaming trail down towards the surface.

"Now where's the other one?" he said sarcastically. A hail of red fire from behind him gave him the answer he already knew. He could sense the other Vulture directly behind, careening to the side in a dive. The Vulture followed, still firing all the while. Bruck then cut his throttle while maintaining his engine's thrusters and hitting the speed reducers. This caused his fighter to do a closed-turn mid-air spin in the air, the Vulture flew past, and when Bruck leveled out, he was right on its tail.

"Gotcha," he said, opening up on it. The Vulture was reduced to a flaming fireball, falling towards the surface before it blew up in midair.

Meanwhile, Ahsoka had finished off the first Vulture she was chasing rather quickly, destroying it with her first volley. She then aimed ahead of the second one right as it was about to turn. The shots clipped its rear enough to have explode and careen sharply to the street below them, plowing through it until it came to a halt, its red eyes shutting off.

"Bruck, how are you doing?" she said.

"Just finished off the last one, I'm heading to you," said Bruck.

"Let's circle back, there's bound to be m-" A shot clipped her win, causing her to veer from her current path. She looked back to see a squad of five tri-fighter droids behind her. Their repeating cannons lit up on her, causing her to weave in through buildings to escape their fire.

"Gonna need some help over here," said Ahsoka.

"Don't worry, I'm right behind them," said Bruck. He brought his fighter to the droid six o'clock position. Once the shot was lined up, he fired. Ion and laser fire from his four cannons erupted from him, hitting three out of five of them. The other two peeled off in various directions, not wanting to risk destruction at his hands.

"Thanks a bunch," said Ahsoka.

"Anytime," said Bruck. Bruck formed up by her side and the two continued flying back to their original destination. As they flew, Ahsoka saw a horrible sight up ahead.

"Oh Force," she said. Up ahead, the sky was darkened. Hundreds upon hundreds of starfighters flew in a massive wave towards the Senate and inner city district. All types of Confederate starfighters, from tri-fighters to Hyena bombers, were in the massive wave. A squadron of V-wings made for it, their cannons firing endlessly. Though almost a score of the starfighters were damaged, a great many of them peeled off to take care of them. It was over in matter of seconds, the V-wings either in fireballs or leaving a flaming trail to the surface.

"We can't take that head-on," said Bruck.

"You're right, which is why we're going to peel some of them off," said Ahsoka. At that all four of her cannons fired, Bruck's following her example. They hit several craft, but this caused them to become targets.

"Let's get out of here," said Ahsoka, bringing their two craft into a dive before flying in the opposite direction, followed by two score of tri-fighters and Vulture-droids. Laser fire followed them endlessly, a few close calls being made. They weaved through the endless amount of buildings, hoping to shake a few of them off their trail. One or two would be lost from time to time, but they would somehow manage to find their way back.

"This might have been a bad idea," said Ahsoka.

"Shall I put that on the report if we somehow live through this?" Bruck said back. Bruck tried to hail any friendly starfighters in the area.

"Anyone in the area? Requesting immediate aid," said Bruck, he and Ahsoka diving down to near street level from a recent hail of fire.

"This is Ghost Leader of Home Fleet Squad 34-7. We're coming up from behind," said the voice of a clone pilot. "Can you get them to an open spot?"

"We'll certainly try," said Bruck. "You got all that Ahsoka?"

"Got it. Lets get rid of these clankers," she said. They started an upward climb towards the tops of the skyscrapers, still pursued by the Separatist fighters. Suddenly, green laser fire began to pick some of them off, coming from a squad of ten ARC-170 starfighters. Ahsoka and Bruck knew now was the time. They sped up and pulled their controls as hard as they could to do a hairpin turn back towards the oncoming droids. They shot and flew past the droids, laser fire still coming towards them. The ARC's found themselves being attacked from behind as the droids that weren't shot down turned back and followed them from the rear, causing them to break off in separate flights.

"Come on, go down," said the clone gunner in the rear, firing his rear-mounted turret at four pursuing tri-fighters. He got one of the tri-fighters, but the other three kept on flying. One of them shot a discord missile at them, the missile veering past them.

"That was close," said the pilot. Suddenly, the missile detonated and a barrage of green and grey balls flew over to the ship. They attached to the ship and small droids popped from out of the balls.

"Buzz droids!" said co-pilot. The little droids immediately went to work using their drill heads, plasma cutting torches, saws, pincers, and prying hooks to begin to tear into the ship.

"Crap, they're getting into the system," said the pilot.

"My turret is going offline," said the gunner.

"We're losing power to our shields," said the co-pilot. They couldn't do a thing as the buzz droids went to work, eventually disabling their navigation. Their ship kept on a flying in a straight path until they crashed into the side of a skyscraper. Ahsoka saw the whole thing, being caught up in the dogfight to do anything to help them. Meanwhile, another ARC was downed, and then another. Bruck managed to shoot down two tri-fighters in his path, weaving through the dogfight as every craft executed tight turns and maneuvers. The rear turrets of the ARC's kept shooting, sometimes managing to down a fighter every now and again, but only six of them and the two Jedi were left compared to twenty-one droids.

Ahsoka did a barrel-roll turn and gunned her engines to the max to catch up to a Vulture on an ARC's tail. She downed it in a matter of seconds, veering right to dodge an oncoming salvo from a tri-fighter. Bruck took up for her again and downed it, weaving away for Ahsoka to get behind it and transforming it into a hurling fireball with her cannons. The dogfight continued until the last droid fighter was a hurling wreck. Out of the squad of ten ARC's, only three remained.

"We need to find reinforcements," said Bruck, hailing for any other forces in the area. Any that responded replied they had their hands full at the moment.

"Looks like we're on our own. Ghost Leader, can you fly point with us?" said Ahsoka.

"Yes sir, we'll stay on your tail," said Ghost Leader.

"Any units in the area, we have a Separatist cruiser heading down planet-side towards the Works. Any available fighters or bombers, assistance is needed," said a clone commander.

"Guess we have a new objective," said Ahsoka. The five ships made towards the Works district, dodging any other droid fighters or destroying them along the way. Along the way, they were able to free up a squad of six V-wings and five freshly launched Y-wings. As one, the newly-formed mixed squadron flew to the Works.

As they approached the Works, they flew past a skyscraper that gave them a view of the descending cruiser. It was a _Providence_-class carrier, complete with heavy gun emplacements and capable of holding upwards to 300 fighters. Its turbolaser cannons were firing down on the planet surface, destroying large buildings with ease. From the look of it, it was laying down fire for droid forces off in another sector. Ahsoka noted that it looked like the end of the district that Taran and Tia were currently fighting in.

_"I hope they're okay,"_ she thought.

"That thing is tearing apart our ground forces," said Bruck.

"If it continues, it'll decimate us," said Box Leader, commander of the Y-wings they had.

"Let's take it on," said Ahsoka. Without a further word, they took off towards the ship. Suddenly, small AA-gun emplacements began firing at the incoming fighters, sending laser blasts and flak in all directions.

"Scramble off and try to find some weak points," said Ahsoka. At that they all veered off towards various sections of the ship. The fire coming from the ship was intense, forcing Bruck to undergo advanced maneuvers the likes of which only a Jedi could do. A V-wing took a hit and plummeted towards the surface before bursting into a fireball.

"The flak's too heavy," said Bruck. A few close-calls had already made deep scratches on his wings and glass dome covering the cockpit.

"Everyone, start to climb. We can attack from above," said Ahsoka. She and the rest of them brought their starfighters to climb, the flak trails and laser bolts following their ascent. A Y-wing got hit in its right engine, cutting its acceleration in half, followed by a bolt from a turret hitting it in its midsection and causing it to explode into pieces.

"Use the clouds for cover," said Ahsoka. Everyone did as they were told, continuing their climb until they were safely in the clouds, though fire from the cruiser was still shooting at them, the trajectory was off and they were for the most part safe.

"Let's dive boys," said Bruck.

"Ahem."

"And ladies," Bruck corrected. All the craft began to descend sharply towards the Confederate cruiser. Once they lost their cloud cover, the weapons from the ship began firing again. However, due to their speed and the angle they were all flying, its shots weren't effective. The Y-wings and V-wings dove toward the engines while the ARC's and the two Jedi targeted the ship's midsection. The Y-wings unleashed their deadly payloads of proton bombs while their laser cannons opened fire on them. The ARC's launched their proton torpedoes at the ship's radar antenna and the bridge.

The bombs hit the engines of the ship with devastating effect.

_BOOM!_

The sound reverberated through their cockpits as the engines blew up one after the other, with one heavily damaged one in the center left. Meanwhile, the proton torpedoes slammed into the bridge and radar array, the array snapping off and slamming down onto the top of the deck. The bridge imploded on itself as flames and pieces from the inside exploding, bathing the entire bridge section in flames. They zoomed past the ship, leveling off after their attack run. The ship started to dip

"Not bad," said Bruck.

"Sir, we have incoming fighters from Point 05," said Ghost Leader. Two squadrons of Vultures, 24 in all, were closing in on them.

"Intercept them. Box Leader, have your Y-wings keep targeting the ship. We'll hold them off," said Ahsoka. She, the V-wings and remaining ARC's flew to intercept the incoming Vultures while the Y-wings circled around to engage in another attack run. Another dogfight occurred, with devastating effect. Though outnumbered, with two Interceptors, three ARC's, and five V-wings, the Republic pilots were experienced, and weren't going to go down easily. The V-wings used their laser cannons, two of them armed with flak shooting array guns, to deadly effect. Next to the Interceptors, they were the fastest and most maneuverable fighters in the Republic Navy.

One pilot got behind two Vultures and downed them easily.

"Got ya clankers," said the pilot.

"Silver 3, you got three on you," said another pilot. He looked behind him and saw three Vultures on him. Their blasters opened fire. Four shots hit his starship, and flames began to shoot out of his ship.

"Gah!" yelled the pilot as smoke filled his cockpit. He knew in any second that his ship would explode. As he thought of his impending death, he looked to the ship that the Y-wings were now dropping more bombs. He saw that the one damaged engine was allowing the ship to stay afloat.

"You guys, it was nice flying with you. Now it's time to do my part," he said. He aimed his flaming ship towards the last engine. At the speed he was going, he would hit it in a matter of seconds.

"Boxer, no!" said one of the men from his squadron.

"For the Republic!"yelled Boxer right before his ship crashed into the last engine. The explosion from the starfighter was enough to have the engine explode. The Separatist cruiser was now on a one way dive down to the surface. Flames and smoke trailed behind it as it went on its one-way course. It crashed into the surface of the Works district, several large miniature explosions from inside it sending parts and metal all around it before the next explosion was from its power core.

A titanic explosion that made the starfighters still in flight above it stall for a few seconds before they resumed their regular flight. The fireball could be seen from as far away as the Senate District and beyond. Meanwhile, the others had cleaned off the Vultures, Bruck turning the last one into a fireball. They did lose two more V-wings and another ARC, and a Y-wing had been destroyed by AA fire.

"I can only imagine what it's like out in the atmosphere right now," said Bruck.

"More brutal than it is here, that's for sure. Let's circle back and get back to the Senate District," said Ahsoka.

* * *

"Attack!" yelled Master Tiin, dawned in a breathing mask. He and the clone marines equipped with jetpacks jumped from out of the lower hangar. They glided in space for a moment before they landed on the outer hull of the Providence-class carrier that their dying ship had passed over. Immediately, they went to work. Keeping the turrets that dotted the top portion of the ship, Master Tiin cut a hole into the hull of the ship to allow him to get through. A few clones followed him in.

The clones on the hull fired at the turrets to get them to pay attention to their present threat, wanting to distract them from their general's plan, and to keep them from shooting at friendly ships in the area as well. The desired effect happened, but their losses started to mount.

Inside, Master Tiin moved rapidly to the bridge, taking out any battle droids that came his way. After completely obliterating any that came in his path, he made it to the bridge. The clones that came with him managed to blast the doors open, allowing them to go in and take out the bridge crew. They picked off the other droids in the room while Tiin went straight for the pilots. One slash per droid, three in all, sent them tumbling down in pieces while he grabbed the helm to turn the ship while the clones who stayed went to work repositioning the turbolasers.

The clones outside were pinned down from the fire they were sustaining. Suddenly, the turrets seized fire. To their amazement, each one turned and began firing on a nearby Separatist ship as the ship they had boarded changed its course. The clones all cheered as they watched their newly-converted turbolasers mercilessly pound the other ship.

_"This battle is just starting,"_ thought Master Tiin.


	3. Battle on the Ground

The sounds of the conflict around them could be heard from every direction as their group moved down a street. Blaster fire, explosions, metal crashing to the ground, the sounds of all-out war. It was an all too familiar sound for Taran and Tia. The 150 men under their command moved steadily in individual squads, the walkers between each one. Tia and Taran both were at the front, the lead squad following directly behind them. The men of the company were part of the Coruscant Guard units of clones that garrisoned the planet for security measures. None of them would have dreamed that they would be a part of a massive battle like this.

The street they were on was dusty and deserted. The grey pavement had craters every now and again from explosions. The buildings, once colorful and which at one flashed with many different neon colors, were now quiet and deserted, the civilians fleeing elsewhere for their own safety, possibly to the lower levels. Some of the buildings were mere shells of their former self, some of them having been destroyed in the initial bombardment.

"It's too quiet here sir," said Captain Plies, holding a DC-15S. "Every other company in this sector is engaged, but somehow we're not."

"It is very discomforting. Have the AT-RT's ready to move forward as soon as we meet any resistance," said Taran.

"Yes sir," said Plies, getting on his comlink.

"I really don't like the way this feels," said Tia. "It's like I know there's danger everywhere, but my vision can't allow me to see it."

"Keep the rest of your senses on alert for the slightest movement," said Taran, drawing out one of his lightsabers but not activating it. They continued forward, listening and watching for any suspicious movement. The street they were to cover was large, stretching 20 meters wide. It would lead to a bridge, which they were to hold with any other forces that got in the area to stem the flow of droids trying to reach the Senate District.

Wait, I got movement," said Tia, feeling a slight disturbance. Up ahead, Taran could hear the sounds of something, multiple things, walking towards them with distinctive clanking sounds.

"Get in battle formation and get ready," said Taran to the rest of their company. The men spread out to cover each side of the street, getting into a double line formation with space in between. This gave them a wide arc of fire and less targets to concentrate on than in a column formation, and better to withstand an attack than scattered. Suddenly, a building one hundred feet blew up, sending smoke around to obscure whatever was coming.

"Hold your ground," said Tia. The men readied themselves, their weapons ranging from DC-15A's and DC-15C's taking aim at the smoke. Taran could see circular shapes with legs moving towards them. Though he couldn't get a clear look at them, he immediately knew what they were. Octuptarra combat tri-droids. And there were a lot of them.

"Fire!" he yelled. The men under his command, whether they were infantry or in mechanized vehicles, fired their weapons. Their first volley of fire took out a few of the tri-droids, only to have them be answered by the droids. Men fell down as salvos of laser bolts fired from the droids.

"Walkers, keep moving. Don't get stuck in one place," said Tia as she blocked a laser bolt. The AT-RT's moved forward, weaving to and fro with each other to lower their chances of getting hit. One pilot did get hit by a stray shot and tumbled off his walker. The rest kept going. Their repeating blasters never ceased firing, cutting down the droids with repeated hits on their domes. Though just three of them remained, their action was immensely helpful.

"Move forward and keep firing. AT-TE, using your swivel cannon to fire ahead of the walkers," said Taran. The cannon operator nodded and fired. His shot took out two droids, with more following suit. The rest of the clones rushed with them to meet the frontline of the droids the walkers had missed in their charge. Taran and Tia led them from the front. Due to the droids' design, their laser turrets could be fired from any direction, which some of the clones would learn as they were shot at not only from the front, but the sides as well.

Taran slashed through the legs of one droid, toppling it over as two clones fired at its dome until it went offline permanently. Tia jumped on top of another and deflected their baster shots back at the droids while the clones below them shot them until they toppled over as well. The AT-TE took some hits, but it was able to slug them off, its laser cannons and swivel gun firing to devastating effect. The AT-RT's even took to hopping off the walls while firing to throw off the shot pattern of the tri-droids.

"There we go, that's the stuff!" exclaimed one pilot as he took out one tri-droid after another. Soon, the tri-droids they were up against thinned down until they were facing them in isolated numbers.

Taran jumped onto the dome of a droid and plunged his lightsaber into it, frying its central drive. He then leaped under another one and bent a pillar of earth under it to hit it a few yards into the air before it crashed onto its side, helpless. He quickly thrust his lightsaber in it and kept going. Tia meanwhile slashed through the legs of another and deflected a bolt straight from another one directly into it, killing it. The AT-RT's finished off the last two droids before they came to a stop.

"Not too bad," said Tia. Their losses weren't that bad either, only losing around 30 men, 22 killed and 8 wounded along with the one walker.

"Care for the wounded. The rest of us, keep going. We gotta get to that bridge, and if my hunch is right, there's more lovely surprises waiting for us," said Taran. They continued moving forward, leaving back a medic and three men to take care of their wounded. They didn't have to get much farther when a column of battle droids and super battle droids appeared up ahead.

"Even better," said Tia, readying her lightsaber. Suddenly, a missile streaked towards them.

"GET DOWN!" yelled Taran. They all dove for cover as the missile streaked forward until it collided into the AT-TE.

_KABOOM_

The entire walker seemed to burst into flames before their eyes. Debris flew in all directions, showering them with stone and metal fragments. Behind the column of droids a Hailfire droid readied to fire its remaining missiles.

"Lead them. I'll take that out," said Taran, getting his staff and protracting his glider. Without a further word, he launched into the air.

"Lay down suppressing fire," said Tia, charging forward as the clones behind her recovered from the blast. The AT-RT's stood stationary, knowing that they're prime offensive arm was forever gone and in a flaming heap. They also served to have the Hailfire fire its missiles at them, dodging them when they fired.

Taran flew straight towards the droid. The column underneath him began firing at him, causing him to take one hand off the glider to use his lightsaber to deflect shots coming his way. However, he could only do so much. A few shots hit his glider's wings, causing him to lose altitude. Regretfully, he let go of the glider knowing it was going to be a one-way trip to the ground. When he landed on his feet on the ground, the droids made a circle for him, their blasters trained on him.

"That was a gift," he said darkly. He used the Force to push every droid within a twelve foot radius flying into the units behind them. Taran wasted no time in drawing both of his lightsabers out and making a beeline for the Hailfire droid. His lightsabers cut down every droid in his path, some never getting the chance to even fire their weapons. Behind him, the clones and Tia were pressing forward. The Hailfire he was after began to roll back, shooting its missiles at him. Taran easily dodged them, jumping over them or managing to slide past the coming explosion. The droids he left behind weren't so lucky.

_"This is why I hate droids: never second guessing whether they're going to hit their own men or not,"_ he thought. He jumped over another missile, twisting his body past another one in mid-air before he landed back on his feet. He stomped his foot on the ground as the Hailfire continued to retreat. A block of stone appeared behind it, thick and large enough for its central unit to hit it, stopping it in its tracks. Its wheels tried to reverse back, but nothing.

"Stuck," said Taran. The droid knew it was trapped, and the only way was forward from here. Its blasters at its center opened fire on him, forcing Taran on the defensive. He blocked the incoming shots away from him. Seeing its chance, the droid sped forward as fast as it could. However, it wasn't fast enough. Taran slashed through its right wheel. Sending it wheeling away chaotically. It plowed through the droids as it tried to regain balance before it toppled over and slid on the ground. It sent droids flying and crushing other into pieces as it continued its death slide.

Tia stood directly in front of it, her lightsaber ready. She jumped above it as it continued to slide, skidding by her previous spot. A single slash cut its center clean in half, effectively ending its terms of service. Taran and Tia then began to mercilessly cut down the remaining droids while the clones continued firing, now closing in as the AT-RT's were now finally free to move in and finish the droids off. It was over a in a matter of minutes. The last droid cluttered into two halves as Taran stood over it.

"How much farther?" said Tia.

"One click away," said Taran. Their company had now dwindled down to less than one hundred, but still retained their three AT-RT walkers.

"With some luck, let's hope no more are coming till we reach the bridge," said Tia.

"Incoming! Crab droids!" said Captain Plies. Ten crab droids, all of them 2 meters tall, were scuttling rapidly towards the men. The men resumed fire on the droids, trying desperately to hit the central unit at the base of the droid's six legs. One fell down, but the armor of the two forelegs of the droid kept the shots from penetrating the rest. The AT-RT's charged towards them yet again. A crab droid hopped onto the side of a building and dove straight towards an AT-RT. The clone driver had no time to react as the durasteel body of the droid collided into the AT-RT, sending it sprawling to the ground. It was then crushed as the droid applied more force, a sickening _CRUNCH_ heard by all.

Another crab droid managed to shoot the second walker, destroying it after it had sustained repeated shots to the body. It exploded in flames, incinerating its driver in a matter of seconds. The last one backed off, continuing to fire. It managed to bring another one down, but another prepared to pounce on it as well. It leaped at it, intending to crush it with its weight. Instead, two separate halves of the droid crashed to either side. Tia had jumped in midair to slash the droid completely down its center.

"Spread out," she said. The clones were previously massed still in their linear formation, but now they assumed the scattered formation to give them all of a front to fire it attacked from the front, the rear, and their flanks. It also made them harder targets to hit, with the crab droids having to aim for individual targets rather than a group, but the men were still close enough to each other to help their comrades.

The clones fought valiantly as the crab droids spread out among them. One clone would use himself as bait to lure the droid in whilst the other men hit the droid from the flanks. However, this didn't always go as planned.

"That's it, this way you muckracker," said a clone, firing a DC-15A on full-auto at the approaching crab droid. The droid came at him while the rest of his squad closed in. However, the droid was aware of this seeing one of its brethren downed by other clones with the same tactic. It swiped the four clones on its leg away like rag dolls with its left foreleg, turning around to gun down the three clones on its right. It then focused its attention on the single clone. The clone continued to fire as the crab droid steadily approached, readying its blaster cannons.

Taran, out of nowhere, jumped onto the back of the crab droid, preparing to stab the droid through. The droid, upon feeling his presence on his back, began to scuttle around and try to throw him off his back erratically. Taran held on, using his metalbending on his free hand to keep himself anchored onto the bucking droid. The droid bucked viciously again. Taran took the opportunity to jump up as it bucked, doing a flip to stabilize himself in the air, before coming down, lightsaber in both hands held up ready for the strike.

_SCHLINK!_

The droid fell into two equal halves separated from the front and rear. The pieces cluttered down as the droid went permanently offline.

"Thank you sir," said the clone trooper.

"Anytime soldier," said Taran, smiling. Elsewhere, the rest of the clones of the company were busily subduing the last of the crab droids. Tia leading them through it. She rolled out of the way of a charging crab droid to get in between the body and the legs, slicing the forelegs off in a graceful arc once she got onto her feet. The clones immediately stepped forward and literally shot the droid to pieces. At that moment, the last crab droid came behind her, ready to open fire.

"Look out!" said Plies, firing his DC-15S straight into the 'eye' of the droid. The droid reared up from the 'agony' before it fell down next to Tia, who plunged her blade into the body of the droid for good measure.

"Thanks captain," said Tia.

"Anytime sir."

"What's our casualties?" said Taran. The surviving clones gathered around as the head count was taken. They now had just shy of fifty men and one damaged walker, though the walker could function albeit slower and less responsive. They had lost too many men and equipment to be effective.

"We need reinforcements," said Tia. "Are there any in the area?"

"Can't get to you, a full squad of destroyers just...Look out! Aghh!" said the comlink on Plies before it cut out.

"Looks like we're on our own sir," said Plies.

"We can't hold a bridgehead with less than fifty men," said Tia.

"I know the odds are stacked heavily against of, but we'll try, even if its for a few moments," said Taran.

"We're ready for a go at 'em," said a clone trooper with a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon. The others around him made sounds of encouragement and agreement.  
Despite the horrors they had faced, and probably more to follow, the men were still willing to keep going.

_"Some still treat them as nothing better than droids, but I've seen them at all times: their best, their worst. How can they be droids? They're beings just like all of us, capable of going above beyond themselves. How could anyone think of them as anything less?"_ he thought.

"If you're all willing, lets go shore up at that bridge."

* * *

Traveling through the deserted and heavily damaged street the rest of the way with a badly depleted company, but for some reason this was the first time Taran felt unfazed by it. He could sense that Tia felt the same way as well as the soldiers they led through the rubble and debris. At length, they started to pass the debris of an earlier skirmish. Dead clones and droids lay scattered around, some clones showing signs of being repeatedly shot. Whether they were alive when they were shot or had fallen and were shot anyway was unknown to them. It played at their imaginations in a macabre fashion.

They weren't the only dead bodies they saw.

Tia visibly shook as they saw the civilian casualties strewn around. Various species lay sprawled out in various positions in the street, the flaming wrecks of speeders and other vehicles around them, and sometimes crushing their victims beneath them. The most heartbreaking image was a female Mirialan holding a small child to her, both of them showing blaster wounds as their bodies were propped on the side of a heavily damaged apartment complex. The mother's eyes were closed, but the child's eyes were wide open, staring at the sky above her as if it were the last thing she saw before she was killed.

"Those clankers are going to pay for this," said Plies as he looked at the destruction around him. Taran turned to see Tia still staring in horror and shock at the corpse of the mother and her daughter.

"Tia," he said gently, placing his hand on her shoulder. She seemed to snap out of the daze she was in and looked toward him.

"Why?" she asked.

He could have told her because the Separatist were there enemy, or that droids were soulless beings, or that it was the will of the Force.

"War doesn't choose who to kill," said Taran. Tia continued to look at him before she nodded, acknowledging his words and their meaning. Their diminished company continued to move through the bodies and debris. One clone couldn't take it anymore and lunged at a downed droid, shooting it repeatedly.

"You bastards!" he yelled. He kept shooting at it, repeating his words over and over again until one of his brothers came and held him back.

"Calm down! Get yourself together!"

"I'm gonna kill every last one of them, if it's the last thing I do!" yelled the clone. It took several minutes of coercion and calming him down before they were moving again, the carnage all around them growing larger and larger the closer they got. The most frightening sight was an upside-down speeder that looked like it had been crushed, blood flowing out of the cracks. Taran looked away, the image burned in his mind.

"Bridge is in view, less than click away," said Plies. The men took cover as Plies, Taran, Tia and a clone sniper ducked behind wreckage and debris to collect surveillance. Looking quickly over the damaged landscape, the sniper got a good look at what they were up against.

"I see two companies, mostly battle droids. They have some dwarf spiders with them. They seem to be the only ones manning the bridgehead," said the sniper. The bridge itself was a durasteel and stone bridge that connected the two districts. It was mostly used for pedestrian use, but it was big enough to have three AT-TE walkers walk side-by-side down it, with room still for others to go in between.

"Plan of attack?" said Plies.

"Head-on won't do. We don't have the numbers to get into a shootout with them," said Tia.

"So how about we give them a little taste of what two Jedi can do," said Taran. He and Tia shared a mischievous grin to each other.

"Um, what does that mean?" said Plies.

* * *

"How much longer till the next battalion arrives?" said a super T-series tactical droid.

"Shouldn't be too much longer. The last battalion went down to sweep the Undercity," said a battle droid.

"This is taking too long. My calculations say that another Republic assault in the area is imminent. This bridge must not be taken," said the droid. It walked to the side of the bridge, inspecting its condition as a squad of droids moved across. He peered over the side, where the lower levels loomed out. He didn't see the two Jedi directly under the bridge. Taran was using his metalbending to stay attached while Tia had used a grappling hook from a blaster. They stealthily moved to the edge, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Suddenly, the tactical droid looked over the side, and met the eyes of the two Jedi.

"May I?" said Tia.

"Be my guest," said Taran. Before the tactical droid had time to raise the alarm, Tia launched herself up and sliced off the droid's head, sending it tumbling down to the depths. She landed on the deck of the bridge and began slashing through the rest of the battle droid units.

"Jedi! Fire!" said a battle droid. The droid units that were guarding the bridge turned around and began to make their way towards Tia. Taran made his move, swinging from under the bridge and drawing both his lightsabers and attacking the droids making their way to weaved through the volleys of blaster rounds, deflecting what he could and dodging the rest. A dwarf spider droid loomed directly in front of him, its frontal blaster cannon firing repeatedly at him. Taran jumped into the air using the Force and landed right on top of it, both lightsabers plunging into the dome head of the droid.

As the droids tried to take out the two Jedi immediately in front of them, blue blaster fire from behind them took out scores of them. A droid looked back to see the clones under Taran and Tia's command firing at them.

"Clones in our rear!" it said before a round shot its head clean off its body. The lone AT-RT fired deadly rounds into the droid forces, decimating their ranks even more. Meanwhile, Tia had taken out the droids that were stationed directly on the bridge and was now attacking the droids. However, they were still outnumbered. They would need help soon, or they would all be overrun. Taran was considering using the Avatar state to destroy them all, but one stray shot and not only would he die, but so would the Avatar cycle. However, the current situation was not helping in the slightest.

"Any another ideas?" said Taran.

"I'm thinking of several," said Tia, the two standing side-by-side to better defend themselves from the blaster fire they were facing. The clone troopers put up a good front, but now their initial surprise was turning against them as the droids drove to flank them.

Suddenly, a Z-95 sped out from the sky. Its twin blasters opened up on the droids in the ground, taking out scores of them. It pulled up and sped off, pursued by a Vulture droid.

"That's all we needed," said Taran pressing forward. The clones continued to fire into the stunned droid ranks. Plies picked off one droid after another, using his accuracy to deadly affect as he one-shot killed each droid. As he fired, he felt the sounds of walker feet behind him. He turned around, exclaiming loudly to his men.

"We have reinforcements!" he yelled, happier than all of them combined at the three AT-TE walkers making their way to them followed by another company of clone troopers headed by a clone major. The clone reinforcements rushed forward, joining in the battle. Taran and Tia got out of the way, jumping on the flanking buildings as the walkers began firing. Their combined fire left large craters in the ground. The droids were wiped out in a matter of minutes, the last battle droid clanking to the ground shot in the chest.

"Good thing we got here when we did," said Major Grit as his men took up positions to guard the bridge.

"Thanks major," said Tia.

"I was sent to relieve you. The Senate District is in chaos and they needed any Jedi in the area to head their and do what they can," said Grit.

"Alright. You and your men got everything they need Plies?" said Taran.

"Don't worry about us sir, we can handle anything else they throw at us," said Plies.

"Good to hear," said Taran, smiling at the clone captain. As they were about to leave, Taran and Tia felt danger close by. They looked up to see a Separatist cruiser off in the distance, its broadside aimed at their position.

"Oh no," said Tia.

"Major! Plies! Tell everyone to ta-"

_BLAM!_


	4. Carnage in the Senate District

The first thing Tia felt was the stinging pain on the right side of her head as she lay sprawled on the ground. Her vision was blurry as she took a look at her surroundings. To her amazement, she was inside a damaged building. She felt her head and pulled her hand back to see blood covering it. Her throat felt hoarse as well. She moved to stand up, her legs strained but for the most part functioning. Her body felt like it was in a state of shock, feeling like her insides were jelly.

She looked around to see the bodies of clone troopers nearby as well. One clone's armor was completely charred in the front. She didn't have to use her senses to know he was dead. The other bodies that lay sprawled in various positions gave no life signs as well. She began to make her way out of the building, crawling over the rubble that decorated the hole where she had crashed through. She looked outside to survey the damage. It was worse than she thought.

The walkers were smoking hulks, one of them blasted in half. Charred bodies were around every now and again, most of the troopers dead from the concussive blast. A distance away, she saw that the bridge itself was destroyed, the only sign it existed being the causeway on both sides with blast craters embedded in it, the middle of the bridge for a great length lost in the recesses of the Undercity.

_"At least they can't get across,"_ she thought bitterly.

"Is anyone alive?" she tried to yell out, but her voice was weak, her throat still sore and choked from the ash cloud hovering in the air.

"Taran? Captain Plies? Anyone?" she tried to say. She searched desperately for any life signs near her area.

"Tia?" a weakened voice called out for her. She looked around to find the source of the voice. She saw a bloodied hand emerge from a hole in the side of another building twenty yards away. She immediately ran for it. She peered in to see Taran. His face was bloodied and the front of his robes were singed. A few pieces of shrapnel were lodged in a part of his leg, but they didn't seem serious and the wounds weren't deep.

Tia managed to walk over to him, looking over his injuries. She also saw Captain Plies and another soldier near him. She checked their life signs as well, finding they were pretty banged up but alive as well.

"Hold on, I'll get you all some bacta," she said, scanning over the bodies of the clone troopers. She checked the medpacks on the medics, the first few being destroyed. After searching for a few minutes, she found an undamaged pack.

"I'm not the best at it but I'll see what I can do," said Tia, taking out some patches and placing them on the wounds that looked serious. Taran grit his teeth from the initial pain before his pain nerves eased enough to let him lie back on the wall to rest.

"Those damn Seppies," said Plies, groaning as he strained to sit up, the other trooper stirring beside him. "Just when it seemed like we could hold our objective and they send a bleeding battleship."

"Were there any other survivors out there?" said Taran.

"I couldn't sense anything," said Tia. "I think everyone else is dead." Taran and Plies hung their heads.

"What do we do now?" said Plies.

"Well the bridge is taken care of," said Tia. "All we have to do next is to get back to the Senate District."

"What do you mean the bridge is taken care of?" said Taran. Tia told them about how the bridge was completely destroyed and that nothing could get across.

"They're even more stupid than the simulations said," said Plies, straining to stand. "Blowing up one of their only ways to get armored vehicles in." Taran moved to stand up, groaning a little from how stiff his muscles were and the small amount of pain that shot through his body before it was alleviated. The bacta patches had done their job well, but Taran knew he couldn't fight at 100%.

"Can you stand Plies?" said Tia.

"I'll try my best sir," said Plies, straining to stand up as well. The other troop was now fully conscience. Plies and Tia helped him up, getting him on his feet and helping him to walk out of the building. When they got outside, they all save for Tia looked around the errant destruction around them.

"All these men," said Plies, clenching his fist as anger erupted throughout his system and he fought to tame it. Taran looked at their lifeless figures solemnly. He'd be lying if he said the destruction he'd seen for nearly three years hadn't got to him in some way. Even when he and Ahsoka were on Elementia the nightmares came a few nights. He remembered one particularly bad one that woke him up panting as sweat covered his body and it took Ahsoka all she could to calm him down enough for him to go back to sleep. Some things could never fully heal.

They stuck to the sides of the buildings to camouflage their presence, not knowing if there were any enemies in the area. Taran would look around the corners and give the all clear as they steadily made their way back. Strangely, they found that everything was quiet, besides the bodies of clones, droids, and civilians lying on the ground.

Suddenly, Taran heard the sound of multiple beings walking in their direction. They took to the side of a building, Taran readying his lightsaber in his hand. The footsteps got louder before the beings who possessed them came into view. It was a large group of varying species: Quarrens, Trandoshans, Humans, Nemoidians, Falleen, Zygerrians, and other species. From what he could see, he estimated that there were around 50.

"You don't think that they could be..." said Tia.

"They're species from Separatist planets," said Taran. He could also see that they were armed.

"They must be some kind of insurrection group. We've had reports of groups like this for weeks. They must have been tipped off about the attack and decided that now was a good time to strike," said Plies. "Attacked from two angles."

"I'll try to scare them off," said Taran.

"Taran, you shouldn't fight just yet," said Tia.

"I'm going to have to keep fighting today anyway. Besides, I don't think these guys have seen what a bender can do," said Taran, leaving from their hideout to walk into the street heading straight for the group.

"Is he usually like this?" said Plies.

"You don't know the half of it," said Tia. "But his heart is always in the right place." Taran continued to walk towards the insurrectionists until their ringleader, a Quarren, saw him and halted.

"A Jedi?" he said in astonishment. The others stopped as well.

"Get out of here now," said Taran, drawing his lightsaber. The mob stepped back for a split second before their ringleader stepped forward.

"Move on dog of the Republic. There's way more of us, and I know what a Jedi can do," said the Quarren.

"True," said Taran, lifting his hand as flames danced around it, "but I wouldn't underestimate me. Do any of you know what flames do to flesh? I have, and it's not pretty. If you don't get out here, I won't hesitate to use it!" His eyes darkened and a dark facial expression passed over his face. The Quarren ringleader stepped back.

"Is that the Elementian Jedi?" one of the insurrectionists said. The others began to back away in fear. The Quarren continued to gaze at Taran, knowing there were two options: fight or run. He studied Taran's visible injuries, seeing he had been in the thick of the combat thus far

"Everyone go back. We can't handle him," said the Quarren. The others began to walk away, some casting fearful glances back at him. Taran didn't move until he saw the last one turn a corner. He breathed a sigh of relief as the flames in his hand died out.

"Not bad," said Plies as he, Tia and the injured soldier made their way over to him.

"Thanks. I'm just glad my bluff worked. Don't know if I had it in me to take them on," said Taran. He and Tia switched off, her taking point whilst he helped Plies with the injured trooper. As they continued making their way through the city, the sounds of combat intensified the closer they got to the Senate District. They had to hit the ground a few times as passing Hyena bombers, Vultures, and tri-fighter droids flew by.

"How are you feeling?" said Tia.

"I'm okay. I can still fight," said Taran.

"I'm still a little banged up, but I'll manage," said Plies. The other trooper made a sign that he was conscious, but they all knew his fight for the day was over. They also knew he needed medical attention in the next few hours or else he would lose consciousness and his condition would worsen. Up ahead, Tia could hear the engine of a repulsorlift vehicle coming by. A TX-130 fighter tank turned from a block onto the street they were on. Thanking the Force as it pulled up next to them, Tia talked to the clone trooper gunner on the swivel turret.

"Trooper, where are you off to?" said Tia.

"Senate District. You four need a lift?" said the gunner.

"Yes please," said Tia.

"We'll stop by a medical station then be on our way," said the gunner.

* * *

A battle was underway on another bridge that headed into the Senate District as clone troopers battled it out against the droid forces trying to get inside.

"Sector 4 is being overrun," said Captain Fordo as the few remaining clones around him continued to fire and fall back from the hail of fire they were receiving from the large force of Supers.

"Repeat," said Fordo as one of his men was shot immediately next to him. "We are-" A super battle droid appeared in front of him. Thinking fast as his ARC trooper training reflexes kicked in, he fired his DC-15A at the droid, downing it after a few shots. Another super came up on his immediate left and he used his rifle butt to knock it down into the ground and firing into it repeatedly. He heard the clanking of another coming up behind him. Wasting no time, and his clip already depleted, he threw the rifle at the super. The super was momentarily stunned and distracted, giving enough time for Fordo to draw his pistol and shoot it repeatedly in its head.

Fordo looked to see that more were coming to the left, and he was the only trooper holding the very frontline. He picked up the rifle from the fallen trooper, using only his left hand to hold it and switch it to full-auto in the second he began to fire it non-stop at the advancing supers. With his left hand occupied, he used the blaster pistol in his right to continue shooting down the supers advancing in front of him and to the right. Though the ARC trooper didn't want to, he begrudgingly began to give ground.

"Fall back! Fall back! Fall back!" he yelled to the men behind him. Suddenly, a Kashyyyk kybuck bounded above, Fordo taking a split second to look at the creature. On its saddle was a small green being with a green lightsaber.

"No retreat," said Jedi Master Yoda as he deflected incoming laser bolts as his mount charged in. His kybuck charged into the advancing force as the Jedi Master cut through droids in all directions.

"Attack!" yelled Captain Fordo. All the clones under his command launched a counterattack, firing as they closed into close-quarters combat.

* * *

They had dropped off the injured trooper at a makeshift med bay near the front lines before the tank began its drive into the Senate District.

"Plies, you know you didn't have to come. You could have stayed back," said Taran as he wrapped a bandage over a wound on his left forearm.

"I still have a part to play in this fight sir, same as you. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't give my all," said Plies. Despite a few cuts and scrapes, including a bad one along Tia's leg that she didn't notice until they were hastily treated, the two Jedi were still battle-ready.

"We're coming up on the main battle line. Get ready," said the pilot. They all readied themselves for the fight that was sure to come. The tank turned out of the block they were driving into the large metropolitan area of the Senate District. The district contained many of Coruscant's famous structures: the Opera House, the Galactic Senate building, the Senate Apartment Complex and numerous famous buildings and plazas such as the highly exclusive building people had literally killed to get into, 500 Republica. Now all these areas displayed the horrors of war.

Laser bolts flew so thickly in the area it was like a permanent light show in the area. Explosions happened nearly nonstop as vehicles, men and droids were launched in all directions either whole, in pieces, or disintegrated into virtually nothing. The deaths of countless beings erupted all around them. Starfighters engaged in dogfights overhead, the plummeting to the ground when they were rendered incapable of flight or would just burst into balls of flames above the battle zone. The tank had come up near the Senate Apartment Complex, where clone troopers were battling for their lives in the open pavilion.

"Hang on!" said the driver. The gunner on the tank opened fire with his beam cannon as the twin laser cannons mounted on the sides of the tank began firing as well. Taran and Tia's lightsabers hummed to life as they stood up deflect incoming fire. Plies went on to shoot from his blaster as well to give supporting fire as the tank streaked forward. The droids in front of them were utterly decimated, their parts flinging into all directions from the blasts of the laser cannons. The tank shot off a payload of two concussion missiles to destroy a group of ray-shielded droidekas that had pinned the men fighting near the building down behind a destroyed AT-AP walker. The droids were destroyed as the rockets crashed into the first droideka, the rest destroyed from the sheer blast wave from the explosion.

The clones that had been pinned cheered and returned fire on the mixed group of battle droids and super battle droids. Plies jumped off into the midst of a squad of six battle droids, using his deadly accuracy to take them all out in quick succession before the last one could even move its blaster up to prepare to fire. Tia jumped of next, slashing through the droids in front of the downed walker to help the troopers. Taran stayed on the tank, helping to deflect blaster fire back at the droids, though he knew the tank's armor could take it.

As Taran continued deflecting, a thought came up in his mind.

This was where Padme lived...

"Oh no!" he said to himself as he looked up at the building. If Padme was inside she had to be taken out, as well as any other senators who happened to be in there as well. As he made to get off the tank, an AAT appeared to their right, its turret turned.

"Crap!" said Taran. He jumped off just as the tank fired a shell at the tank. The tank tried to veer left to avoid the shell, but it was too late. The shell slammed into the right frontal armor.

_BOOM!_

The tank exploded from the sheer blast as the pilot, co-pilot and gunner were incinerated by the combined power of both the shell and their unexploded weapons triggering multiple detonations in their armored vehicle. Luckily Taran had jumped off at the right second, but that didn't protect him from the shockwave from the blast. He was thrown back so violently he hit the destroyed AT-AP on his back, hard. He slid down, coming to a stop on the ground as he clenched his teeth from the pain.

_"There's definitely going to be a lot of bruising from that one,"_ he thought painfully. His vision was also blurry and his ears were ringing like a thousand pagodas during an Elementian holiday.

"Sir, come on," said Plies, though Taran had no idea what he was saying due to the incessant ringing. The clone captain helped get Taran to his feet and to the other side of the walker.

"Where's Tia?" he managed to say.

"She's fighting on the other side of the square with other men," said Plies. Taran turned around to catch a glimpse of her lightsaber slicing through droids left and right as men behind her took cover in rubble.

"Plies, get these men to defend the entrance. I'm going up to see if anyone else is inside," said Taran once his sight and hearing her regained.

"I'll come with you sir. Men, protect his entrance at all cost," said Plies.

"Yes sir," said the twenty troopers behind the downed walker. Plies and Taran went into the building, determined to get out any civilians who happened to be in there.

* * *

Tia cut a battle droid in half in a vertical slash that sent the two halves clattering in opposite directions of the other.

"Tia, you there?" said Taran.

"Tia here. Are you okay? I saw the tank blow up," said Tia.

"Yes, I'm okay (groans a little) these stairs seem so much tougher now," said Taran. "I need you and the other men you're with to create a diversion to help the men guarding the entrance while we do retrieval."

"Copy that. Get anyone out of there as fast as you can," said Tia, sidestepping past an SBD and cutting its legs off, plunging her blade into its back to finish it off. She turned off her comlink and kept the fight going. The thirty men she was assisting were by her side on either side, keeping an advancing fire going to down the droids in front of them. Some were so close to the droids that rare occurrences of hand-to-combat. In one frightening instance, a trooper used his rifle butt to hit an SBD onto its back and shoot at its body repeatedly. Unfortunately, another one had come up behind and used its arm to swipe him down to the ground. The trooper could only look up and yell as the droid brought its foot down, cracking his helmet and crushing his head. One of his brothers yelled in anguish and fired the rest of his clip into the droid.

"We're running low on ammo!" said their sergeant. Tia swiped through a squad of battle droids before realizing that a group of eight droidekas was rolling towards them.

"Fall back and find cover!" she yelled. The troops begrudgingly gave back the ground they had gained, rushing to the nearest rubble outcrops. Tia fell back with them and stood her ground as the men rushed behind her. The droidekas unrolled from their ball form and turned on their shield generators and began to fire. Though most of the clones were able to get to their cover in time, five did not. They were gunned down mercilessly from behind as Tia could only deflect the incoming shots before she too had to take cover from the overwhelming fire.

"Anyone have some thermal detonators?" she said.

"I have one. That's all I got," said one trooper, tossing her his detonator.

"Better make this count," she said to herself. She used the Force to move it slowly across the ground once she placed it on the other side of the pile of rubble she was laying behind. The sphere moved steadily as the droidekas paid it no mind, only caring to eliminate their targets. Therefore, the detonator was able to make its way across to them unhindered. Tia kept an eye on it, sometimes pulling her head back down when a blaster bolt got dangerously close to her.  
The detonator went steadily forward until it stopped in the middle of three of them. Knowing she wouldn't get a better chance then this, Tia set it off.

The detonator obliterated the first droideka, the blast radius extending to the other two and damaging another. With three destroyed and one out of action, the fire lessened enough for the clones to return fire themselves, but they were still relatively pinned. Tia used her lightsaber to deflect incoming fore for the clones to keep shooting. Suddenly, she saw the droids engaging the clones guarding the entrance to the complex steamroller past the clones with the help of the AAT, knocking them back as they were picked off one-by-one. The last clones were killed off and the droids began to enter the building.

"Oh no, Taran!" said Tia. She got behind the rubble pile as the AAT began to focus on their position, its twin laser cannons on its side firing at them.

"Taran, you and Plies get out of there!" she said in her comlink.

"Why, what's wrong?" said Taran.

"The men protecting the entrance are all dead, and droids are starting to enter the buildings," she said.

"Oh spirits. Plies come on, time to...wait fall back!" said Taran. She heard the sound of a lightsaber humming in the background and the sound of blaster fire.

"Please get out of there," she thought to herself, dodging a shell from the tank's cannon.

* * *

Taran was busily deflecting the blaster fire from a squad of battle droids near the bottom floor, forcing him and Plies to retreat back up the way the came. They had discovered that the building was already abandoned, the inhabitants either fleeing during the beginning of the battle or successfully evacuating before the area became a battle zone. Plies fired at the droids, downing them one-by-one. Yet, more still kept coming. Their firepower proved overwhelming for them and they were forced to retreat up the levels.

"Tia come in, we're blocked in. What's the situation outside?" said Taran.

"Droids are all around the building. We have pockets still fighting but no one can make much headway against the droids without support, and we can't do much (sound of explosion). A tank is pinning us down and we can't move. We can't do anything right now," said Tia.

"I understand, we'll try to do something to get down there," said Taran.

"Watch out, supers!" said Plies, taking cover in the doorway of the stairs to the next level. A squad of SBDs were advancing towards them, their wrist blasters firing at full blast. Taran deflected the bolts, ducking from a few. He deflected a bolt back at a droid using his left hand to free his right to send a massive gust of air at them. The air stopped them, but they were too bulky to be thrown. Taran used the Force to fling one onto its back to delay the others following behind to give him and Plies time to get out of there. It didn't stop them from firing through. One bolt connected with Plies' thigh, sending the clone trooper down to the ground, a groa of pain coming from him.

"Plies!" said Taran. He immediately went to the clone trooper's side and helped him stand up and help him limp to the stairway and up the stairs to the complex's multiple levels. It was around the 13th floor that Plies stopped him.

"Go on without me sir," said Plies.

"What?! No, I'm not leaving you like this!" said Taran.

"Sir, look at me," said Plies, taking off his helmet. It was the first time Taran had seen his face. He had the same facial structure and eyes as his brothers. His hair was in spikes and there was a small tattoo on his cheek in the shape of a DC-15S.

"Look at my leg," said Plies, indicated to the large blacked hole in his inner thigh. "I'm going to slow you down and then they'll get both of us. I'm going to give you enough time to get out of here and get back to the others, and do not try to argue sir. I know I've only known you over the course of several hours, but there's no sense in both of us dying today."

Plies sat down on the staircase, taking out two thermal detonators and aiming his blaster down towards the stairs below, where they both heard the distinctive sound of metal clanging on the ground.

"Go while I hold them off," said Plies. Taran choked up as he fought to say words to the clone captain who was really going to sacrifice himself.

For his sake.

"Please don't Plies. Too many good men have died today," said Taran, trying desperately to get him to see reason.

"And one more will join them. You were the first commander I ever served under. Thanks, for everything you did today," said Plies.

"Plies.."

"Go!" said Plies. Taran took a step back, clenching his fist.

"It's an honor serving alongside you Plies. I'm going to come back with reinforcements. Don't die," said Taran.

"Is that an order?" said Plies. Taran nodded. Plies smiled.

"I'll do my best sir," said Plies. Taran slowly walked backwards, his eyes on the clone captain before he turned around and began to run up the stairs. Plies watched him go, still smiling before it became grim as he looked down at the advancing droids.

"Some orders can't be followed sir," he said to himself.

* * *

Taran found himself on the 25th floor, heading towards the nearest large window in a suite for some senator.

_"The way I see it, I can jump out from here and land down and see if I can take out that tank. Once it's out we can get back inside and help Plies,"_ Taran thought. The plan would have to be swift and efficient. As he neared the window, preparing to blow a gust through it to break the glass, his Force instincts told him to roll to the side. He immediately sensed the danger and did as they told him. As he rolled out of the window's vicinity, the glass shattered from the outside as a pair of commando droids crashed in, followed by more from the adjacent windows. Taran got on his feet to see he was outnumbered 25:1. He ran from them, sending back another gust of wind to knock the few in the front ranks back. The others gave chase behind him as they chased him. One of them lunged forward and tackled Taran through the glass of another window. Luckily, instead of free[falling to the ground below he was met with a balcony.

He rolled around, putting his arm in an X under the droids wrist to keep it from cutting his head in half down the center. He used a fire kick to knock the droid off him, standing up to cut one in half and decapitate another. The rest backed him to the edge of the balcony, the railing destroyed from the day's fighting. They formed a semicircle around him, blocking him in. They began to press forward, Taran knowing he couldn't beat them all. They all drew their blasters and opened fire. Not having a choice Taran jumped off from the balcony. When he was out of side, the droids moved forward to see what became of them.

Suddenly his head appeared from the edge, a defiant look in his eyes. His torso followed, his arms crossed over his chest. The rest of his body was revealed as well as if he was levitating. He kept rising until his feet were in view. Then, a cockpit appeared, followed by the rest of the starfighter as it hovered in front of them.

An Eta 2 Actis-class Interceptor with a green astromech droid.

"I love my girlfriend," said Taran. The laser cannons of the starfighter opened fire.


	5. Move to Protect the Temple

The last commando droid clattered into pieces on the floor of the suite.

"Thank you so much Ahsoka," said, looking into the glass of the cockpit and smiling at the Togruta inside.

"Anytime," she said, smiling back.

"And you too R3," said Taran. The little astromech droid Taran heard explosions behind them and looked to see Bruck's fighter destroying the tank and undertaking strafing runs on the droids on the ground.

"Ahsoka, I need your help inside," said Taran. Ahsoka nodded. The balcony was big enough for her to park the fighter down. Once it was properly parked she hopped out of the cockpit, lightsaber in hand as they raced back into the building. They had made it to the stairway when they came across their first droids. Working together as a pair, they made short work of the advancing supers, weaving in between the gaps they made and cutting them into pieces from the front, the sides, and the rear. Any droids that fired at them had their shots deflected back at them, toppling down after sustaining a few critical shots. Ahsoka tripped a super and Taran used his airbending to sending it flying down the stairwell, crashing into pieces on the bottom floor.

It took them only a few minutes of cooperation and blinding speed till the last droid cluttered to the floor. Taran and her raced down the stairs to where Plies was last seen. When they got there, Taran felt his breath seize.

Plies was lying propped on the wall to the stairwell. He had been shot in four places not counting his thigh wound. Two in the gut, one in the shoulder, and one on the left side of his chest. His eyes were closed as if he was resting. A pile of around ten super battle droids were near him on the stairwell, with more below showing evidence of being destroyed by thermal detonators.

"Plies," Taran said softly. Kneeling down, he placed his hand on the clone captain's armor. "I'm sorry." Ahsoka could only look with sadness and knelt down next to Taran, placing her hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Taran," she said.

"I didn't want to leave him," said Taran. "Can you help me get him out of here?" She nodded. He seized his shoulders while Ahsoka moved around to get his feet. They counted to three and hoisted him up, moving carefully down the stairs. Taran also retrieved his helmet. The trip down the stairs was quiet, even when there was a battle just outside. It took them a few minutes to get all the way down as they tried not to slip or trip over the downed droids on the descent down.

When they got outside, they saw the bodies of the other clone troopers who had fought to defend the entrance. Taran and Ahsoka placed Plies near the entrance, placing his helmet on his chest.

"Thank you Plies, for everything," said Taran. Tia and the other surviving clone troopers ran over.

"Everything o-" said Tia before she saw Plies' body. "Oh no, Plies." She knelt down, her hand on his chest as she looked down at the clone captain who had helped them out so much through the day.

"It's my fault. I shouldn't have left," said Taran. He told Tia and Ahsoka what had happened in the complex. They listened intently to his every detail from his and Plies last exchange.

"It's not your fault," said Tia, taking it all in. "Plies wouldn't want you to beat yourself up about it."

"I still feel like there was more I could have done," said Taran sadly. "Come on, let's get to the balcony to survey."

"Alright. Can you men hold the fort down here?" said Tia.

"Will be our pleasure sir, I mean ma'am," said the sergeant. The three of them went back into the complex to get back to the balcony.

* * *

From their position, they could see where Master Yoda and Master Windu were currently battling the droid forces on the bridge. Below them, more reinforcements were coming in to aid in the battle still raging in the majority of the district. Bruck had landed on the ground near the entrance and was beside Tia, also surveying.

"I think for now everything's stabilized," said Taran from his assessment of the battle zone through his electrobinoculars.

"And the sky's are starting to clear as well," said Bruck. Taran scanned over all the streets. Though there was constant battle everywhere, no sector seemed to need immediate help. Taran began to look skyward, seeing the ships weave in and out of each other. If he looked very closely into the sky, he could see the lights of turbolasers flashing through the atmosphere as capital ships fought each other at point-blank range. He moved away from the the scene to look over at the Jedi Temple. What he saw nearly froze his heart literally in his chest.

A full armored regiment of droids, over 2500 strong, were marching down three adjacent streets straight towards the Temple. The worst part was that no troops were in the area to try and repel them.

"This is very bad," said Taran, giving the binoculars to Ahsoka and pointing to where droids were located.

"We've got to do something," she said.

"Any plans?" said Tia.

"Taran and I can go on the ground. Tia and Ahsoka, you can give us air coverage. We can do this as close-knit through our comlinks. Hopefully some units will know there's danger in the area and come to assist us," said Bruck. "You think you can go into the Avatar State?"

"It has to be at the very beginning of the fight. I can't risk it in the thick of the fighting," said Taran.

"Think you can get those tanks and other armored vehicles?" said Bruck.

"I think I can do that," said Taran, flexing his arm and his back, finding out they still stung.

"You going to be alright?" said Ahsoka.

"I'll be fine. Just promise me something," said Taran. Ahsoka nodded.

"Give them everything you've got."

* * *

The droids marched down street they were on, the Temple in the distance. An AAT lead the advance on each street, followed by two platoons and more vehicles such as AATs, Hailfire droids, mortar tanks, NR-N99 Persuaders, and homing spider droids. In all, a formidable fighting force. The vibrations of the repulsorlift vehicles, the metal clanging of the thousands of droid feet on the streets, and the tracks of the other vehicles echoed for a good distance.

The lead AATs driver looked around to see things were all clear, not a soul stirring in their path.

"All clear. Keep going forward," he said to the tank crew.

"Roger roger," said the battle droid drivers. The three streets lead to a plaza before it continued on as one large street straight towards the Temple. The lead tanks made it to the plaza, the rest of their armor regiment filing in behind them. Everything seemed to be going well for them. If they could get to the Temple and have it sustain damage, the Jedi would all flock their to protect the building at all costs. The feint would pay dividends should it succeed.

Suddenly, a thick earth and metal wall formed out of the ground directly in front of the tanks. More erected themselves at the entrances to the plaza, blocking off the greater number of droids and vehicles trying to enter. This trapped the three AATs, one spider droid, around 100 assorted droids and SBDs, and two Persuaders. The ground underneath the droids stuck in the plaza began to shake and quake beneath their feet. A droid looked up to see Taran on top of a building overlooking the plaza, his hands outstretched as his eyes and tattoos on his hand glowed with a blue-white light. The ground continued to shake underneath them. The ground then began to crumble underneath them before it exploded upwards like a bomb had went off beneath them. The droids were lifted for a split second into the air before

Taran had used the Avatar state to destroy the ground they were standing on, sending the droids down a few levels into the undercity about two stories below the plaza level. The tanks were completely laid out on their sides, unusable, whilst all other droids were dashed to pieces. A sloped sinkhole-like environment of stone from the plaza, metal from the levels directly below it, the droids themselves, and other miscellaneous objects mixed into one. Even if the droids got through the walls he made in the streets, they would be seriously hampered getting through the debris.

"Ahsoka, Tia, go now!" said Bruck from his perch right behind Taran. Their two Interceptors flew out from behind the buildings they were taken cover in to avoid any unnecessary encounters with the Separatist air force. They flew past them towards the droids still stuck in the streets. Their laser cannons fired non-stop into their ranks, as well as the smaller ion cannons on the wings. They both moved to the two outlying streets, strafing up and down the streets and taking out countless droids and armored vehicles beneath them. The downed vehicles began smoking wrecks as they exploded, each one becoming a chokepoint for the street they were on.

Tia and Ahsoka then turned around and flew wingtip to wingtip, strafing the middle street relentlessly. The devastation and destruction they left behind was overwhelming, with the droids losing 90% of their armor and their infantry hampered down.

"Good run girls!" said Bruck. "Think you can go for another?"

"Will do," said Ahsoka. The girls passed their position and began to turn in a wide circle.

"You know, this actually might work," said Taran.

He spoke too soon. He looked up to see a squadron of Vulture droids heading straight towards them.

"Ahsoka, Tia, you have Vultures coming up on your 9!" said Bruck. Tia and he coked their heads to see the six Vultures heading straight for them. They immediately veered right, the Vultures right behind them as they begun to chase them overhead.

Taran hastily bent part of the metal on the roof they were on into a thick cylinder and split it into six discs.

"Ahsoka, Tia, come back around near the building," said Taran through his comlink. In the distance they saw the two fighters split from each other into opposite directions, three Vultures following them, before they turned around and came back in their direction. Taran stamped his foot to have all six discs hover in the air.

"Come on, a little closer," he said to himself as the ships got closer. Tia and Ahsoka's fighters streaked past and he seized the opportunity to bend all six discs straight at the Vultures. Four of them collided into their targets, either splitting their wings off or in half straight down the middle. The remaining two barrel-rolled in midair to avoid the discs. Once they regained their composure the two shot all four of their missiles at Ahsoka and Tia. Taran and Bruck could only watch as the girls careened away from the approaching missiles. They breathed a sigh of relief when the missiles streaked past them. However, they couldn't stop them from exploding in midair in front of them and unleashing their deadly cargo.

Ahsoka could only look in horror as buzz droids swarmed onto her and Tia's ship.

"Oh no," she said. The little droids immediately went to work tearing apart her ship, using all their deadly tools to get into the ship. She was more worried about R3, the little astromech outside her cockpit in his socket.

"R3, get out!" said Ahsoka. The droid shook its head and beeped at her, taking out his top utility tools from out of his dome in attempt to defend himself and Ahsoka from the buzz droids. Two buzz droids stopped their work and began to crawl slowly towards him, keeping just out of reach of his tools as they waited for the perfect chance to strike. Meanwhile, the other six on her ship were finally past the armor plating and into inner working of her starfighter to disable it.

Tia was going through the same thing, the droids beginning to short out her engines. Tia knew that her ship had less than minute to function properly.

"Ahsoka, we have to bail out!" said Tia.

"I can't leave R3!" said Ahsoka. She raised the latch to open the cockpit. The engines to her ship were now hovering between fully operational and completely off, cutting out every now and again. Balancing herself on the outside, she activated her lightsaber. The buzz droids lost interest in further damaging the ship and focused on just Ahsoka and R3. Ahsoka cut down three as they tried to advance with their saws. R3 managed to shock one off of the ship, but left his rear open to the other buzz droid. It seized the opportunity to jump on R3's head and began to slice into it.

"R3!" yelled Ahsoka. Thinking fast she quickly slashed the droid in half, not looking behind her cut the other buzz droid that tried to jump on her when her back was turned. The remaining buzz droids tried to attack her all at once, jumping into the air straight at her, only to fall down in pieces. Ahsoka knelt down by R3 the best she could, trying to keep her balance as the engine's were a few seconds from cutting off. On Tia's fighter she had done the same thing. All the buzz droids were destroyed, but her ship was done for.

"We have to go now!" said Tia. At the angle they were at, their ships would crash around the middle street they had just strafed mercilessly.

"Come on R3, eject!" said Ahsoka. R3 beeped weakly in reply. Ahsoka looked to see the damage inside the astromech's dome.

_"It won't work. The eject is broken and the socket is malfunctioning,"_ said the translator board as he whistled and beeped to her. _"Go on."_

"We'll figure something out," Ahsoka said frantically.

_"Go,"_ said R3. The droid turned his head away from her and looked out towards the sky. Ahsoka wanted to stay there with him, try to find someway to get him out of there, anything. The astromech droid had been with her for the longest time, a bond developed between the three of them similar to Anakin's bond with R2. He had helped save her life.

_"It'll be alright,"_ said the dashboard. He gave one last little whistle to encourage her to go. Though she didn't want to and her mind was battling with itself to stay or go, she knew R3 would never forgive himself if he was the cause of her getting hurt. She hugged him tightly, one last time.

"Thank you for everything," she said. She stood up, giving him one last tearful look before she jumped off the ship. Tia did the same, the two jumping down to the roof of a building bordering the middle and first street. Ahsoka could only watch as Tia's ship plummeted into the street, destroying more droids before it burst into flames. Ahsoka's ship continued it's downward descent. It hit the roof of a building, rolling along it for a good distance. At the end of the block it continued its roll off the side of the building. It landed on a support bridge that connected the blocks above, tilting off it and dropping down towards the under levels.

_"R3,"_ she thought sadly.

"Ahsoka get down!" yelled Tia, jumping onto her friend to shield her as a shell slammed in the side of the roof they were on, sending chunks of debris and rubble all around them. Down below, a still operational AAT was firing at them from below.

"We need to get to the boys," said Ahsoka. Tia and her stood up and began to run along the rooftops, sometimes jumping to the other side of the street if it lead up to a skyscraper.

Elsewhere, Taran and Bruck were making their way towards them, jumping along the roofs as well. Below them any droids that were still functioning properly, or enough, were shooting at them. Taran and Bruck's lightsabers deflected the shots as they ran to link up with Ahsoka and Tia.

They saw the girls up ahead, dodging fire themselves. They were close now, only a few more rooftop jumps from each other. They were so close.

Until the mortar shell from a mortar tank on the other street crashed on top of the roof as soon as they linked up. The explosion sent a shockwave and shrapnel that had them soaring in midair. Time seemed to slow down for Taran as he felt himself weightless in the air. He saw the others, pain in their expressions as well. He knew their landing was going to be a tough one.

Bruck landed on top of a downed Persuader. Ahsoka hit the ground on her back in the middle of the street, hard. Tia hit the side of the building before she fell five feet to the ground. Taran hit the side of an AAT on his side, slumping down onto the ground.

"Good shot soldier," said the newly-appointed droid commander of the armored regiment.

"Thanks sir," said the droid pilot.

The four Jedi teens were dazed, bleeding, bruised and in a lot of pain. Ahsoka struggled to get on her hands and knees. She looked around to see Bruck and Tia behind her, Taran only a few feet away. Struggling to her feet she made her way over to Taran, who was breathing deeply as he struggled to somehow control the pain emanating from him.

"Taran, are you alright?" she said shakily. He opened his eyes and nodded. He made a move to get up, but groaned in pain through grit teeth. She helped him stand up to his feet, every step seeming like he was in pain. Taran looked down at her leg to see it bleeding, a large shard of concrete in the side of it.

"Your leg," said Taran.

"It'll be fine," said Ahsoka, though she was starting to sting from the wound. They saw that Bruck and Tia were stirring and watched as they got up as best as they could. Behind them, they could hear the clanging of metal as the droid forces still operational were coming forward to continue their assault. Taran was okay enough to walk on his own, but he knew Ahsoka was having a problem walking due to her wound.

"Stop. I'll carry you," said Taran. Though she didn't want to feel like a burden, she knew she couldn't go for much longer. He hoisted her up and began to jog with her, holding her bridal style. He saw Tia and Bruck were up and running towards them.

"We need to get back to the plaza," said Taran. "They're coming." The four of them headed towards the wall Taran erected to keep the droids out. Once they approached, Tia and Bruck charged themselves with the Force. They Force-jumped over the wall, followed by Taran using his airbending to get over it. They landed in the sloped rubble from when he had destroyed the plaza. Sticking close to the edge they made their way around it to get to the ground floor of the building on the other side. It took them ten long minutes to get through the debris and wreckage, trying as best they could to not lose their footing and fall into the sinkhole.

Inside the building they rested as Taran found water from a sink to heal them up as best as he could.

"This situation just keeps getting worse by the minute," said Bruck as Taran healed a large cut on his cheek.

"We've been in worse," said Tia.

"This time...I don't know if we can make it," said Bruck.

"There's still hope. Someone will come, I know it," said Ahsoka. Taran went down to her leg, gripping the concrete between his fingers.

"Ready?" he asked her. She nodded, giving him the okay. He pulled it out as fast as he could, having her groan from the pain as she bit her lip to suppress the yell that was about to erupt from her. Taran used the water to begin to heal the cut, stopping the flow of blood. In less than a minute the pain was gone as the wound healed.

"I'm sorry," said Ahsoka when he was done. "I tried to get him out, but I couldn't."

"It wasn't your fault," said Taran. He looked into her eyes, the sadness present in them. He'd lost his glider today, a gift from his uncle to use. He lost Plies, in his opinion the best captain second only to Rex. Now he had lost R3, besides Ahsoka his first real friend when he was apprenticed to Obi-Wan.

_"Believe me Taran, I know what you've gone through. I did the same thing myself. I thought my Master didn't want me to do the things you just did because he thought I wasn't ready. I later realized that he was doing it to protect me. That's what I'm trying to do now," said Obi-Wan. As Obi-Wan finished R3-D4 rolled over to where the pair was and nudged on Taran's leg._

_"R3?" said Taran. As Taran turned around to see his astromech droid he noticed a a black scorch mark leading to a hole in the droid's side and wires hanging out from it._

_"Oh no," said Taran as he knelt down to inspect the damage on the droid, he got a wrench and mini blowtorch out of his utility belt. He turned the droid off so that it wouldn't feel the pain shooting through it's system from Taran's work. As the droid was off he reattached wires that were split, turned gears to the right position, and managed to get R3's system back into a stable condition._

_"You alright R3?" Taran said as he reactivated the droid. R3 replied by happily chirping a series of clicks and beeps._

_"I take it as a yes, but we're going to need to find you some more metal to cover that hole," said Taran to R3. R3 replied with a beep that seemed to say "OK."_

_"Well wait here, I have some mods to do for you," said Taran. Taran turned to face Obi-Wan and noticed that he was looking intently at him._

_"You really like that astromech droid don't you," said Obi-Wan._

_"Yes, he helped me out in the battle, I owe him that much," said Taran._

_"Personally, I don't understand what attaches you and Anakin to your droids but if he's worth the trouble you can keep him," said Obi-Wan._

_"Thanks Master," said Taran._

"There might be a chance he made it," said Ahsoka, hoping that it would get his spirit up.

"I surely hope so," said Taran, though he didn't seem so sure. "In a few more minutes, they're going to thrown everything they have at us. This might be...our last fight."

"Don't say that," said Ahsoka. "As long as we're all together, we can do anything." She took his face into her hands to look directly into his eyes.

"I'm not ready to give up; please don't give up on me," she said softly. Taran took her hand with his, gently holding it as he looked into her eyes. Green met blue once again. Slowly, a small smile came across his face.

"Always know what to say to get my spirit back up," said Taran. She smiled back at him, the two of them sharing a moment together. Possibly for the last time.

_KABOOM!_

The walls holding the droids back crumbled into pieces as they were destroyed. Two AATs had destroyed the walls on the left and right while the middle had been destroyed by the mortar tank. Droids began to move over the large chunks of rock and metal from out of the debris and head into the plaza, careful to skirt around the edges. Now only four battered Jedi padawans and the last wall stood between them and the way to the Temple.

"I love you Ahsoka Tano," said Taran.

"I love you too Taran Cyneran," said Ahsoka. Though they were never pessimistic about future outcomes, they knew that there was still a chance that they might not make it out. They remembered the policy for Jedi the droids had.

The two kissed each other, making it short but still with as much passion as even their longest ones. When they pulled apart they looked into each others eyes as if to burn their feel and intensity into their memories for all time. Nearby, Bruck and Tia were hugging each other tightly, pulling back enough to give each other a kiss as well. When they pulled apart, they stood up and walked to the entrance/exit. Taran and Ahsoka followed closely behind.

The four walked out into the street, lightsabers in hand as they awaited the droid forces to breach the next wall. They could hear the droid forces as they picked a path out around the sinkhole, the sound of metal sliding on rock and metal ringing around. The four mentally prepared themselves for the fight to come.

"If I'm going to die today, at least I'm with all three of you," thought Taran.

"All four of us, together always," thought Tia.

"It's a good day to fight beside each other, even if it might be for the last time," thought Bruck.

"I'll love all three of you always. Let's show these Seppies that we don't go down easily," thought Ahsoka. Whether it was a coincidence or they all knew what the other was thinking, a smile formed on all four of their faces.

The wall exploded into pieces, the pieces showering them and the street, but the four of them stood unmoving. Their lightsabers hummed to life and they took their stance. When the first droid came into view, they all let out a battle cry the likes of which they had never heard before and charged.

To victory.

Or death.

* * *

Yoda and Windu fought nearly back-to-back, deflecting the hail of blaster fire coming from the Separatist forces. Their hold on the bridge was solidified, but any slip up or wavering, the bridge could just be as easily lost.

"Strange is the enemy strategy," said Yoda, continuing to deflect blaster bolt after blaster bolt.

"A massive invasion, but no attempt to take the Temple or Senate," said Mace.

"Yes. An elaborate distraction," said Yoda.

"to hide their primary objective," said Mace. Suddenly, the answer dawned on both of them as it hit them to the very core.

"Palpatine!"


	6. Moments that Decide the Tide

Shaak Ti arrived at the entrance to the Chancellor's secret bunker. Her robes were in tatters and her face, arms, and legs were cut and bruised from the numerous Magnaguards she had fought to give Masters Corobb and Moudama time to get the Chancellor in safely, agreeing to sacrifice herself for their sake. For a moment, when she was fighting the Magnaguards with both her lightsaber and the electrostaff from the droid she killed, she thought she was ready to die. When they had stopped, she was extremely confused. They all as a unit moved back down the escape tunnel, slowly fading away into the darkness as if they were wayward ghosts being summoned back to the underworld by their master. As they left, she could only watch in shock.

"Why would they leave so suddenly?" she thought to herself. They could have swarmed her and it all would have been over. She was already teetering on the brink despite her valiant performance against them. Then a thought entered her mind as she searched to find an answer.

A pack called off the hunt only when its prey is found.

"No!" she said to herself as she used her Force speed to run as fast as she could down the tunnel.

She quickly opened the security doors and raced in. When she was there, she saw to her horror the scene of death in front of her. Both Jedi Masters were dead. Master Corobb and Master Moudama's bodies lay next to each other, their bodies showing slash burns that showed they were cut down defending the Chancellor. Nearby, holding the Chancellor by the cuff of his robes, was the cyborg General Grievous himself. She had thought that when she managed to snag his cape on the transit train that it was the last part of his role in the battle. Instead here he was, his target the entire battle in his grasp.

"Chancellor!" she said in shock.

"Shaak Ti my dear," said Palpatine in a calm and somewhat amused voice as the cyborg held him with up with one of his arms, the other two unoccupied and the last one holding one of his captured lightsabers. "You've come to rescue me."

Shaak Ti yelled as she charged at Grievous, preparing to give her all to defend the Chancellor at any cost. Her first strike Grievous flicked away almost lazily. She tried to slash at him again, only to have him grab her right arm with one of his own. He then moved his other unoccupied hand to grip her throat to keep her in a choke hold.

"You are tired Jedi," said Grievous. Shaak Ti tried to struggle out of his grasp, but she couldn't. He sheathed his own lightsaber and put the Chancellor down, knowing the old man wouldn't dare try to run away now. He then merged his two other arms back into one.

"You won't be needing this," said Grievous, tearing Shaak Ti's lightsaber out of her hand. "I've got something else for you in mind." A compartment on his arm opened and tendrils of metal rope with electricity rippling from the ends. Shaak Ti could only watch in horror as she saw what was going to happen to her.

Her screams echoed throughout the room and the escape tunnel.

* * *

The Chancellor was successfully being loaded into Grievous' transport, Magnaguards flanking his every step. Another Magnaguard keeping watch from the transports anti-aircraft gun saw an LAAT pass by overhead. Signalling to the others around the ship, he opened the fire. The repeating gun on the transport fired furiously at the gunship. Its first few shots missed, but the last one were dead on as it hit the rear and middle of the gunship.

Mace Windu shielded his face with his arm as pieces of the ship's bay door showered the inside followed by smoke. Looking outside he saw the only chance he had to make his move as the gunship began to plummet towards the ground. The Jedi Master jumped out from the smoking gunship, using the Force to cushion his landing. Grievous turned around to see Mace on the pavement behind him. He quickly turned around and broke out all four of his arms and all four lightsabers, the bars of energy pointed directly at the Jedi Master. He knew if he failed now, this operation was doomed.

Mace held his hand out and clenched his fist as he used the Force to target the cyborg general. Grievous felt his armored chest crush into itself, the outer armor breaking. He dropped his lightsabers and doubled over clenching his chest as he coughed violently. The door to the transport closed and it began its ascent back to the atmosphere. Mace Force jumped in a last ditch attempt to get onto the transport.

Its anti-personnel blasters on the side fired down at him, forcing him to unsheathe his lightsaber and block all the incoming shots. A few caught the ends of his cloak, burning the ends and the insides of it. He landed back on the ground, still blocking the shots before they ceased fire as the ship got enough altitude to take off safely without the Jedi Master following them. Mace clenched his fist, knowing that he hadn't gotten back in time.

* * *

A droid was sliced in half by a blue lightsaber down in a diagonal strike through its chest. Bruck then brought his foot into the center of another battle droid directly behind the other. By his side, Tia cut through the droids near him like a knife through butter. A small distance away from them, Ahsoka and Taran were both cutting through the droids to get to the mortar tank. The first AAT lay in a smoking wreck behind them, destroyed when the four of them worked in sync to distract their target whilst Ahsoka cut the top off and dropped their last thermal detonator into the hold. The blast that followed completely incinerated the tank. The second was currently on its to their right side, a large earth spike next to it showing that it had been flipped from beneath.

"We need to take out those Jedi," said the droid commander. "Prepare to fire."

"But sir, if we fire our own troops will get hit," said a battle droid beside him.

"If we don't shoot, then we'll be the ones get killed," said the commander. "Get the first round ready and fire when you can." The droid crew hurriedly loaded the round into the gun. The shell safely in they looked through their sights to find their target.

"Fire!" said the droid tank leader. The trigger was pulled and the round fired, arcing into the air before it began its plummet down to the ground. The four of them looked up to see the shell streak towards them. Thinking fast they all got together as Taran erected a thick stone dome around them, hoping it would be enough to hold against the round.

Unfortunately, it didn't.

The round exploded on the dome, destroying all other droids near it. Due to its high intensity and sheer power it destroyed the dome as well. The four of them were scattered as the blast wave completely through them out of the fight. They escaped the worst of the blast due to the dome, but could do nothing against the remainder. Taran hit the ground hard on his front. Ahsoka fell near him on her side. Bruck followed next, his body crashing onto the ground behind him. He slumped to the ground, unconscious. Tia landed near Ahsoka on her back.

The blast hadn't left much physical damage to them, but due to their exhausted state already the blast had gotten them off their feet.

Taran struggled to stand back up, but could barely lift himself up. Beside him, Ahsoka tried to do the same thing. She also wasn't able to do much either. Tia was slipping in and out of consciousness as she tried to fully realize the situation they were in. Bruck was completely out, his body making no moves to keep going. Up ahead, Taran could see that the droids had stopped their attack and massed together to get into formation. Through their work, the group had managed to bring the entire regiment down to just around 400 droids and one mortar tank. Behind them, a homing spider droid had finally cleared through the rubble to bolster the force as well. Their strafing runs had proved significant and their counterattack had also been fruitful. However, now they could not even get the strength they needed to keep going.

"Prepare the next round. Aim for them directly," said the droid commander. Taran made a move to try and get on his hands and knees at least to push up. The effort was too much for him and he fell back down to the ground, panting. He knew he was spent. He saw the droids prepare for their final assault. With their current state, he knew what was going to happen next. Looking to his side, his hand grasped Ahsoka's hand. Her fingers clenched onto his as they acknowledged their fate. The end was near. He wanted to hold her all throughout their final moments.

"Aim," said the droid commander. The tank's gun found the new trajectory, its shell ready.

"Fi-!" said the droid before its head was shot off. Taran turned to see behind them from where the shot had been companies of Coruscant shock troopers were advancing down the street towards them. It wasn't the troops that shocked him. What shocked him most was who was leading them. His and Ahsoka's eyes widened in pure shock as they saw Master Sinube leading the men, followed by Petro, Katoonie, Ganodi, Gungi, Zatt and Byph.

"Forward men," said Master Sinube, his lightsaber out and ready for battle. The men charged forward, firing as they advanced. Taran, Ahsoka and Tia pressed down to the ground to avoid the fire from both sides. Taran peered out to focus on the droid troops. To his astonishment, he realized that the fire coming from the clones wasn't as effective as usual. In fact around 60% of the shots missed their mark. The volume was thick enough for droids to be felled left and right. Peering to the other side he saw the younglings and Master Sinube deflecting as many blaster shots as they could.

When the first line of clones passed by them, the younglings came to help them up.

"What are you doing here?" Taran said weakly as Zatt helped him up.

"We saw there were droids in the area from a scan. We tried to sneak out, but Master Sinube caught us on the next block. Then we saw you and we managed to convince him you needed our help. Then out of nowhere this troopers came with orders to eradicate the droids in the area, so they came with us," said Katoonie.

"You guys have a wonderful gift of persuasion," said Ahsoka as Petro helped her up. Master Sinube stood by them as Gungi and Byph helped lift Bruck up while Katoonie and Ganodi helped Tia. The clones kept going forward in their charge against the droids, now coming into hand-to-hand combat with them. Their they all noticed that the droids seemed to have the upper-hand in most of the fights, but the sheer number of clones proved overwhelming.

"What do we do?" said the droid pilot.

"I don't know, do we keep shooting?" said the gunner.

"We have to neutralize that mortar tank before it fires again," said Master Sinube.

"I'll come with you," said Taran.

"No. Stay here with the younglings. Leave this to me," said Sinube. He calmly meditated to himself, bowing his head as if in silent reverence.

"What's he doing?" said Petro.

"I don't know, but could it be...?" said Ahsoka.

The battle around him slowed down to nearly a standstill. Time was for this one moment playing in super-slow real time. Blaster bolts flew at one foot every three seconds. Troops moved even slower than that. The vision shifted to the tank as he saw the droids inside begin to load the next round. His eyes opened, knowing what he had to do.

Sinube moved blindingly fast, utilizing his Force speed to great effect. He ducked and dodged past charging clones and the incoming blaster fire from the droids. His feet soon took him up onto the sides of the adjacent street buildings as he ran along it as if it were the street below. Droid fire tried to bring him down, but they might as well have been targeting a fly as the Jedi Master dodged the fire or deflected it with his lightsaber. He soon jumped off of the building to land just ten feet from the tank.

"Ready. Aim. Fire!" said the droid pilot, still unaware that the Jedi Master was so close. The gunner, seeing the round was loaded, pulled the trigger to fire. Sinube's lightsaber cut straight through the barrel. The round fired into the air, but due to the now greatly reduced barrel length the round fell far short of its goal, landing in the middle of the droid forces. The droid were blown into pieces, the debris showering the advancing clones. Now there were only a few handfuls of droids left. Sinube plunged his lightsaber into the mortar tank's side, cutting a hole through the metal. He used the Force to move the sliced opening out of the way to reveal the droid crew inside.

"Uh oh," said the droid commander. Sinube pulled all three of them out with a Force pull, cutting them in half as they flew by. The clones handled the rest of the droids as Sinube focused on the spider droid. It fired its beam laser at him. The Jedi Master calmly stood his ground and met the beam with his lightsaber. The beam deflected straight back at the spider droid, slicing the top of its central unit clean off. The droid exploded, its leg falling off in all directions as the rest of it crashed to the ground. The clones stopped their advanced and cheered when they saw the droid's destruction. Sinube calmly sheathed his lightsaber back into his cane and walked back towards them.

All of them stared in shock and awe, their mouths wide-opened and slack from what they had just witnessed. Ahsoka spoke first.

"I thought you once told me going slow still gets you to the destination?" said Ahsoka.

"So I did. However, some situations demand speed," said Sinube, smiling at her. Ahsoka smiled as well. Bruck started to come to, his eyes opening.

"What? What happened? And how did you six get here?" he asked.

"We'll explain it all when we get you to the nearest medical station," said Sinube. "There should be one near the Senate District." Just as soon as they were about to leave, the video screens that lined the street came on.

"Odd. Why would the HoloNet screens keep running during this?" said Tia. The screens flickered on and off again before an image appeared. Taran and Ahsoka's eyes glowered as General Grievous was revealed.

"Greetings scum of the Republic. If you are receiving this message, then all your hopes and dreams are (violent coughing) about to come to an end. As seen by our invasion, your forces are stretched to the brink. I only have to push a little harder, and watch as you all are crushed beneath by fist," said Grievous, emphasizing the point with a raised fist.

"But instead (coughing) I will spare your wretched lives, but your defeat in this war is assured. I have something of yours," he said. The camera moved and focused behind them. Eveyone's eyes widened in shock. Taran could feel the shockwaves all throughout the area, possibly all the way around the planet. Chancellor Palpatine was seated on a chair with electrobinders keeping his wrists pinned to the seat.

"Tell them you name," Grievous demanded.

"Palpatine of Naboo," said Palpatine.

"As you can see, your beloved Chancellor is now my prisoner. Stare into the face of your defeat, for there can be no victory after this. And just in case any Jedi or clones are making an attempt at a rescue (coughing) this is the result. The camera moved out of the ship's bridge into a corner of space unoccupied by the heavy fighting progressing around the planet's atmosphere. The image would be forever frozen into their minds.

The bodies of Jedi Knights Pablo-Jill and L'lacielo Sageon floated in space, their bodies showing that they had both been stabbed. Taran personally knew Pablo-Jill, having been trained some times by him on peaceful mediation practices.

"No," he said to himself. Ahsoka felt the sadness from him and touched his shoulder. She had known Sageon from some of his lightsaber instructions at an early age.

"This is what awaits those who try at foolish attempts to prevent the inevitable," said Grievous. The transmission cut off, its message and point hitting home in the populace. Ahsoka's breath hitched her throat as she finally understood.

"The battle was a diversion," she said.

"A diversion? What do you mean?" said Tia.

"Think about it. The droids were more heavily focused on the Senate District rather tan any other part of the planet. Besides this force, the Temple or other important places to the war effort like bases or factories or ports weren't engaged at all save to draw off some of or forces. This was their plan all along," said Ahsoka. The realization sunk into all of them. How could the answer been right there the entire time?

"But, why would they risk a gamble this great?" said Zatt. "If they didn't capture the Chancellor, this would all be for nothing."

"Any objective in a risky situation is still worth taking," said Sinube. He hung his head and sighed.

"If he gets away, this could spell the end of the Republic. His leadership was the glue to keep all factions together," he continued.

"We've got to get up there," said Taran.

"Are there any ships we can take?" said Ahsoka.

"Not in your present conditions," said Sinube. "If you found some way to get through the massive amounts of starfighters and ships, and somehow manage to penetrate the ship's defenses, then you'd face an entire crew of droids and Grievous himself. You must calm yourselves and think." The four of them let his explanation sink in. He was completely right.

"All measures I'm sure are being taken to liberate the Chancellor. For now, heal yourselves and rest. There's still a battle to finish down here," said Sinube.

* * *

The battle in space raged as Republic ships tried desperately to get to the _Invisible Hand_, Grievous' flagship. The Separatist ships formed a barrier around the ship, engaging the ships relentlessly in an effort to stave them off as the _Invisible Hand_ tried to find an open way to jump into hyperspace.

The _Venator_-class Star Destroyer _Benevolence_ engaged in a broadside battle with a Separatist _Munificent_-class frigate, the turbolaser on its starboard and cannons lining the beneath firing ceaselessly. The ship was also receiving punishment of its own from the frigate, explosions rocking both ships as the turbolaser rounds slammed around the two ships.

"Divert all engine power to the turbolasers," said the ship's captain.

"Sir, one of our turbolasers has just been severely damaged," said a clone bridge attendant.

"We're going to need more reinforcements. The Chancellor's life is in our hands," said the captain.

"Sir, we have a new group of enemy signals coming from our rear and above," said another crew member.

"More Separatists?"

"No. They're friendly. They're coming out of hyperspace now." The captain looked out to the left to see the incoming ships. First one Venator came, followed by three more, then eight. Above their ship, two more appeared. He looked closely at their insignias to confirm their identity.

A yellow circle with a red diameter around it save for open spaces on the circle's left and right.

Open Circle Fleet.

Immediately, the bridge crew let out cries of joy and praise as the ships moved to engage the Separatist ships, starfighters exiting from their hangars by the dozen.

Kenobi and Skywalker.


	7. 501st Intervention and Victory

"Ow!" said Bruck as the medical droid dressed a wound on his side. The rest of them were being attended by a combination of medical droids and clone medics while Master Sinube and the younglings stood by. It only took around two hours for their wounds to be dressed since they were mostly shrapnel wounds rather than blaster wounds. Taran stood up from the cot, a few bacta patches around his chest, arms and legs. The others were the same as well with Bruck's head bandaged being the only one that stood out.

"Master Sinube. There's something that's been picking at my mind," said Taran.

"Speak young one," said Sinube.

"Where did the clones you found come from?" said Taran. "Last I checked, none were in the area."

"They also seem...different," said Ahsoka. Master Sinube rubbed his chin as he pondered.

"I haven't really thought about it till now. Any of these differences you notice?" said Sinube.

"For one, their accuracy is off," said Taran.

"Two, they don't fight as well as other troopers we've seen," said Ahsoka.

"And they're too...ridged," said Taran. He turned to a clone trooper standing guard about ten feet away.

"Trooper, can you come here for a moment?" said Taran.

"Sir yes sir," said the trooper. He calmly walked over to him, standing in front of them all.

"What's your creed?" said Taran.

"To protect the Chancellor and the Republic," said the clone.

"The Chancellor?" thought Taran. "And what's your creed with your brothers?"

"Fight as one and watch each others' backs," said the trooper. All of their eyes widened at his statement.

"You can go back to your duties soldier," said Ahsoka.

"Sir yes sir," said the clone, walking back towards his station.

"He didn't know about Vode An," said Taran.

"This is too weird," said Ahsoka. "You think we should look into it."

"Perhaps another time, but for now we must continue to push back the Separatists still in the city. I won't ask you all to come with us," said Sinube. Bruck stood up, flexing his muscles.

"I think I can go on, but more for support than force," said Bruck.

"I feel the same way," said Tia as she flexed her legs.

"I think you have our answer," said Ahsoka.

"Should I send you all back?" said Sinube, pointing to the younglings

"With all due respect Master," said Taran, standing up, "I wouldn't mind having these six with us all the way through." The younglings smiled at him, which he returned.

"And what should I say about their disappearance?" said Sinube.

"Say it was a chaotic event. Sometimes we lost sight of things in the heat of warfare," said Taran. Sinube smiled.

"Master Kenobi has taught you too well," said Sinube.

"I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for him," said Taran. "I just wonder what he's doing right now."

* * *

"Flying is for droids," said Obi-Wan. His starfighter was currently dodging the missiles of the Vulture droid. He veered and weaved through the the engaged capital ships. The missiles still kept following him. However, he was more shocked when they flew past him. They exploded some distance in front of him. He saw green-grey spherical objects appeared out of them and latch onto his ship.

"I'm hit. Anakin?" said Obi-Wan.

"I see them," Anakin replied. "Buzz droids."

The buzz droids unlatched from their shields and went to work doing what they do best: mess up the starfighter. Already one was delving into the ship's hull to get to the control wires. Obi-Wan could only watch as the buzz droids began their dirty work. One scuttled over his cockpit window towards his astromech droid, R4.

"R4 be careful, there's a-" he said. The buzz droid got to the astromech and was already tearing into his dome. With little effort it cut through enough to tear the astromech's head off and send it flying into space, the head whining as it flew behind him.

"Oh dear," said Obi-Wan. He knew he was heading into a world of trouble. A buzz droid managed to carve its way into the control gauntlet, hampering any efforts Obi-Wan could make to steer the ship.

"They're shutting down all of the controls," said Obi-Wan. Anakin's fighter came up directly behind his.

"Move to the right so I can get a clear shot at them," said Anakin.

"The mission...get to the command ship. Get to the Chancellor. We're running out of tricks here," said Obi-Wan. His fighter at the moment was done for. It wouldn't make sense for Anakin to try and help him when he could continue on the mission to save the Chancellor. Any normal person would have left Obi-Wan to his fate and carried on.

Anakin wasn't a normal person.

He fired his lasers as carefully as possible, hitting a few buzz droids on Obi-Wan's ship. The strategy was working until the ones he was aiming for on the ship's left wing moved enough to where the cannon blasts hit the wing instead. Good news, the buzz droids were detached from the left wing and shot into space. The bad news, Obi-Wan had only one wing left.

"In the name of!" Obi-Wan yelled. The two ships moved through an area heavily contested between a Star Destroyer and a Separatist ship, explosions all around them.

"Hold your fire, you're not helping here!" said Obi-Wan.

"I agree bad idea," said Anakin, hitting himself in his mind to how undeniably reckless that approach was. A buzz droid near the nose of the starfighter damaged a coolant cable, causing it to spray onto Obi-Wan's cockpit window.

"I can't see a thing. My cockpit is fogging," said Obi-Wan, straining to see out the window. Anakin moved to get his ship into position, another idea in his mind. Hopefully, he thought, it just my work.

"They're all over me. Anakin-" said Obi-Wan. Suddenly, he felt something hit his left as if to batter his already crippled starfighter. It hit him again, confirming his suspicions that it was Anakin. From what he could strain out of the glass, he could see Anakin trying to crush the buzz droids with his wing.

"Move to the right," said Anakin.

"Hold on Anakin. You're gonna get us both killed," said Obi-Wan. "Get out of here, there's nothing more you can do."

"I'm not leaving without you Master," said Anakin, ending all debating between the two. Anakin expertly moved his starfighter until he and Obi-Wan's ships were lined wingtip to wingtip. He moved in in order to ram into the ship one more time. This time the buzz droids were crushed, save for one. The lone survivor climbed onto Anakin's ship as he pulled away, immediately targeting R2. The little blue droid fished out his charge arm to ward the buzz droid off.

"Hit him R2," said Anakin. The buzz droid made the first advance. R2 countered by hitting him with the arm, sending it scurrying back.

"Watch out," said Anakin. The buzz droid tried again, only to be sent back again.

"R2, hit the buzz droid's center eye," said Obi-Wan. R2 beeped, aiming the arm at the droid's center eye. He charged it up and fired it as the buzz droid got close. The buzz droid had moved in close, wanting to try and finish him off for good. It wasn't prepared to counter the electric hit. The arc of electricity hit it dead on, frying the eye and the circuitry inside. It slumped to the floor, deactivated. The outside pressure sent it sliding off the ship.

"Yeah you got him!" Anakin cheered.

"Great R2," said Obi-Wan. Continuing their flight the turbolaser, anti-aircraft flak, and other guns intensified.

"The general's command ship is dead ahead," said Anakin. The _Invisible Hand_ stood as a bastion of firepower as it shot not only at them, but other ships in the area. R2 screamed as their ship narrowly avoided their fire. It seemed like every gun on the ship was firing.

"Well have you noticed the shields are still up!" said Obi-Wan.

"Sorry Master," said Anakin. He spun his Interceptor around Obi-Wan's, firing his laser cannons at the shield generators flanking the _Invisible Hand's_ hangar. The generators were destroyed after the sustained blasts, dissipating the hangar's shield. A metal safeguard door began sliding into place to keep the pressure inside the shield. The Interceptors raced towards the rapidly closing hangar door.

"Oh I have a bad feeling about this," said Obi-Wan, bracing himself for what was to follow. They gunned their engines to the max. It proved fruitful. They managed to get past the hangar door in the nick of time, the doors closing shut as soon as Anakin's fighter made it in. Their fighters hit the steel floor hard, crashing past barrels, weaponry and droids. Obi-Wan shot out of his cockpit, his lightsaber coming to life as he spun in the air before touching the ground and slicing straight through the droids around him.

Anakin's ship halted to a stop. He hurriedly took off his safety belts and opened the cockpit, also jettisoning R2 out of the ship.

"There they are. Fire!" said a battle droid squad leader. The other droids under his command fired at the Jedi Knight. Anakin's lightsaber was already on as he spun it around in a swirling display that had their shots ricochet back to the droids. He and Obi-Wan steadily made their way towards each other, deflecting the blaster shots back at the droids as the droids in the hangar advanced onto their position. Obi-Wan and Anakin soon switched to go on the offensive, moving forward to slice through the battle droids heading for them. R2 rolled till he was behind them as if asking for orders.

"R2. Locate the Chancellor," said Obi-Wan, slicing through another battle droid. R2 beeped and headed to the closest computer terminal as the two Jedi finished off the last of the droids. The last droid fell to the ground, braying it's 'death' yell as it clattered to the ground. R2 connected to the terminal with his scomp link and broadcast an image of the entire ship. A white light displayed the location of the Chancellor's beacon.

"The Chancellor's signal is coming from right there," said Obi-Wan pointing to the hologram. "The observation platform at the top of that spire."

Anakin's senses became uneasy as he felt a familiar presence on board the ship. "I sense Count Dooku."

"I sense a trap," said Obi-Wan.

"Next move?"

"Spring it."

* * *

An AT-TE provided artillery support for a squad of clones battling droids in the street. The clones had set up a firing line from behind the rubble of the adjacent buildings as the droids advanced.

"There's too many. We're going to be overrun," said a clone trooper.

"Less talking; more firing!" said another clone next to him. It seemed like an endless stream of SBDs advancing on them, their wrist blasters firing nonstop. A clone near the commanding officer was shot in the head, falling sprawled on the ground with a hole in his head. The lieutenant fired his blaster above him, not daring to look out in order to get a clearer shot on his targets due to the suppressing fire.

"Sir, we have Jedi!" said another clone trooper nearby, pointing behind them. Quick as a flash, the six younglings sprinted from down the street, taking their positions in front of the firing line of clone troopers. Their lightsabers deflected the blaster shots back at the droids. SBDs hit repeatedly were downed while more took their place. Five more came up behind them of various species: a Togruta, Zabrak, Human, Twi'lek, and a Cosian. Their lightsabers were activated as well as they stood next to the younglings, their lightsabers whirling in a a colorful display of blue and green in various shades that caught the clones' breath from the beauty yet deadliness of the display.

"Don't stop, keep firing," said the clone lieutenant. The clones stood to get a better shot to fire over the heads of their eleven Jedi helpers. More droids started to go down, but there were plenty more to take their place.

"I thought you'd be in more for support?" said Petro.

"So did I. We'll manage," said Bruck. All eleven of them soon began to realize that they couldn't stay on the offensive forever. They would have to attack the droids head-on.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" said Taran.

"Seems like it," said Ahsoka. Taran looked around to all of them. They all met his eye and nodded. As one, they charged at the droids. The clones held their fire for a moment as they saw the Jedi get in their iron sights.

"Come on men!" yelled the lieutenant, leaping over the rubble he was taking cover in to charge as well. The other men let out a yell as well as all 50 of them charged at the droids. Eleven Jedi, 50 clones, one AT-TE walker against presumably hundreds of droids. The walker kept up the firing way into the droid ranks to avoid hitting its allies and to hamper the amount of droids coming in. The Jedi worked in pairs of two, one Padawan to one youngling save for Master Sinube who fought with Byph and Ganodi by his side. Their lightsabers cut through the metal frame of the droids ceaselessly. The clones came in to bolster their ranks.

Elsewhere, the battle on the ground had heightened as the 'new' clone troopers came in to bolster the defenses and provide new bodies for the meat grinder. Though they had less accuracy and other skills which their other 'brothers' had, their numbers helped sway the the tide of the battle. The Separatists on the ground new they were about to lose their last leg, so one more concerted push to break the back of the Republic forces was given as every unit had orders to press the attack in every direction. It was do-or-die for them now, even when they still outnumbered the Republic forces.

The corner of the Senate District they were currently fighting in was a crucial point. If the droids broke through here, they would hit the flank of the bulk of the clones still fighting in the very center of the district.

A clone fired point-blank into a SBD before one directly behind it pointed its wrist blaster at it him and fired three consecutive times into his body. The trooper fell, falling directly on top of Ganodi. She tried to move out of the way but wasn't able to dodge in time. She was pinned down under his body, her lower body trapped beneath the trooper. The same super aimed its blaster at her as she stared at the barrel. Sinube's lightsaber cut right through it before cutting the droid in half. Byph came over and helped Ganodi move the dead soldier off her body. She thanked him, which he replied his welcome back before they assumed their positions back by Sinube's side.

Taran and Petro moved through the droids, sometimes swinging nearby the clones in case a super had a shot at their flank. Taran mostly defended Petro since the youngling could move better than he could in his condition. Petro proved to be a capable fighter despite his age, slicing the arms and legs off of the supers before finishing them off or Taran and him attacking at the same time.

Ahsoka and Katoonie were near the perfect team as they moved with elegant grace, but raw battle energy. Ahsoka assumed the role of protector as well, but that didn't mean that she wasn't to cut down any droids in their path.

"You've gotten stronger," said Ahsoka, cutting a super in half as it loomed over Katoonie.

"Thanks. Taran taught us from time to time," said Katoonie, blocking a few shots as she and Ahsoka switched back to the defensive while Bruck and Zatt along with Tia and Gungi pressed ahead on their flanks to bring the fight directly to the droids.

"He did?" said Ahsoka.

"Yes. His teachings helped us excel past the other clans," said Katoonie. Ahsoka took the time to observe the movements of the other younglings. They were all able to use lightsabers by the time of their trip with her, but now she could see they were fully capable of techniques and moves a little beyond their years. Droids firing at them were handled with proficient care and skill the likes of which made her grateful that they excelled at their training and that Taran had taken the time to help them train as well.

"Incoming!" yelled Zatt. They glanced up to see an HMP droid gunship flying towards them. Master Sinube raised his hand towards the gunship. The bodies of ten downed super battle droids levitated from the ground before they shot towards the gunship as if they were their own crashed into the gunship, but bounced harmlessly off of its shields.

"Walker! Bring it down!" yelled the lieutenant. The AT-TE's main cannon targeted the incoming gunship and fired. The gunship swerved to the side dodge the round. The cannon fired again, this time clipping the right end of the gunship. It careened sharply and hit a building to the side before falling to the ground. It buried an entire squad of supers beneath it as it crashed, rendering them unusable.

The gunship managed to keep firing its forward guns at them, making the Jedi fall back from the frequency and strength of the shots. Taran quickly erected a waist-high wall for them all to take cover behind. The clones continued firing from behind the safety of the wall.

"This oughta finish it off!" yelled a clone as he shouldered a rocket launcher. He took careful aim at the gunship and fired. The blast hit the gunship square on and destroyed it into a burst of flames.

"We're going to need more men here soon," said Bruck.

"Don't worry. We only gotta hold for a bit longer. I've gotten word that they're on the way," said the lieutenant.

"Wait, transmissions are coming in?" said Taran.

"Yes sir. Apparently more ships from the Open Circle Fleet are in and are helping our boys fight up there and sending men down here," said the lieutenant.

"Obi-Wan and Anakin!" said Taran and Ahsoka. "Any word about them?"

"They're currently fighting to get the Chancellor back if the reports are correct," said the lieutenant.

"No worries then," said Ahsoka. "If anyone can do it, the two of them combined can do just about anything."

"You have that much faith in them?" said the lieutenant.

"Absolute faith," said Taran.

* * *

Obi-Wan was thrown hard into the railing of the upper stairway, falling to the ground. Dooku raised his hand, using the Force to cause the section to fall on top of him, knocking the Jedi Master unconscious. Anakin could only watch in stunned silence. Fear washed over him briefly as he realized he was on his own. Everything now rested firmly on his shoulder. Sadness because his former master, his best friend, a man he could call his brother, was now currently unconscious on the floor. However, another emotion was beginning to fill him.

Anger.

He looked with rage-filled eyes he got to his feet and charged Dooku, kicking him off the stairway. He leaped down as well and the two men continued their fight. Their lightsabers clashed endlessly in a display or red and blue, white sparking in every time their blades crashed together. The Count's Makashi against Anakin's Shien. Their lightsabers met again, pressing into the other.

"I sense great fear in you Skywalker. You have hate; you have anger, but you don't use them," said Dooku. Anakin hit the lightsaber away from him.

_"If he wants hate and anger, I'll give it to him,"_ Anakin thought. For three years the Count had egged him, threatened him and his loved ones, and caused discord, chaos and death wherever he went. Anakin could still feel the tingle on the edge of his arm where his real arm met his robotic limb. From cutting off his arm to when the Count had captured them on Korriban to now, and the Count had the sense to have a smug look? This time, he was going to make him pay. Anakin attacked first, using the emotions, the Jedi had forbidden others to use in combat.

He pressed the attack, for once causing the Count to lose ground as their fight took them around the Chancellor's chair. Dooku began to slowly realize that he his provocations were backfiring on hm now as he fought to just keep up with Anakin's attacks. Anakin now plainly saw that he was gaining the upper hand in their duel.

Their lightsabers clashed endlessly in intricate patterns and techniques prescribed to their forms. Their lightsabers locked again and Anakin twisted their lightsabers down. Using an advanced Shien maneuver to move his hands around his hilt to twist it inside Dooku's grip. There was no defense to this. His lightsaber sliced of Dooku's hands. The severed hands flew into the air to the force of the blow, Anakin catching the Count's lightsaber in his activation and activating the red beam.

The Count dropped to his knees as Anakin crossed the two lightsabers in an X around his throat. He was now completely at Anakin's mercy. The Chancellor's face broke into one of happiness.

"Good Anakin, good," said the Chancellor, congratulating Anakin on his feat. "Kill him." Both Anakin and Dooku's eyes widened. The Count looked to the Chancellor as if pleading for his life.

"Kill him now," said the Chancellor. The Count looked back up to Anakin. As Anakin looked at him, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sorrow for his enemy. The old man looked broken and utterly helpless. Despite everything Dooku had done to him and countless others, how could he kill this defenseless old man?

"I shouldn't," said Anakin.

"Do it," said the Chancellor. Anakin looked down at Dooku's face on more time. Suddenly, every negative emotion came back to him. The long three years of pain and anguish the Count made him feel. His eyes darkened at the thoughts. He flicked his wrists out, and the Count's head came tumbling down off his shoulders. His body slumped to the floor, never to rise again. Count Dooku, leader of the Confederacy of Independent Systems, was dead.

"I couldn't stop myself," said Anakin, walking over to the chair.

"You did well, Anakin. He was too dangerous to be kept alive," said Palpatine.

"Yes," said Anakin, turning the binders off on the chair, "but he was an unarmed prisoner. I shouldn't have done that. It's not the Jedi way."

"It is only natural," said Palpatine, standing up and moving around now that he was free from his confinement. "He cut off your arm, and you wanted revenge. It wasn't the first time, Anakin. Remember what you told me about your mother and the Sand People?"

_"How could I not? I can never forget,"_ Anakin thought.

"Now, we must leave before more security droids arrive," said Palpatine. Palpatine made for the stairs while Anakin went to check on Obi-Wan's state. To his relief, his friend was still alive.

"Anakin, there's no time. We must leave him," said Palpatine.

"He seems to be alright," said Anakin.

"Leave him or we'll never make it," said Palpatine.

"His fate will be the same ours," Anakin said grimly.

* * *

"They're here," said the lieutenant. Sure enough, ten LAAT gunships flew down to help the beleaguered force on the street. The gunships opened fire, shooting their missiles and frontal laser cannons at the droids. Droids were blown to pieces or thrown around all over the street from the assault as the gunships made to land quickly before droid starfighters were alerted to their presence. They were able to slip in as new fighters came in tie up the still numerous Vultures and tri-fighters in the skies. The bay doors opened to allows squads of clone troopers out and into the fray, their blue markings allowing them all to be identified right away.

501st Legion.

"Rex!" said Taran and Ahsoka as the men of the 501st came by to find along side them.

"Kid! Ahsoka!" said Rex, taking the time to stop firing and focus on them. As the men rushed by to take care of the droids, Rex embraced Ahsoka as she switched her lightsaber off to hug him fiercely.

"I was overcome with joy when I heard you were safe," said Rex. "Thanks to none other than you kid."

"Rex," said Taran, he too hugging the clone captain. Rex was taken aback at first, but returned it anyway. Any other man would be surprised if his commanding officer suddenly hugged him out of the blue.

"What's the situation?" said Rex.

"Droids," said Taran.

"Fair enough," said Rex. "We'll talk when this is all over."

* * *

The safety shutters to the bridge windows finally shut, allowing Anakin, Obi-Wan and the Chancellor to get their feet back on the floor without a risk of getting sucked out into the airless vacuum of space. Grievous has escaped, again, aboard his damaged flagship.

"Can you fly a cruiser like this?" said Obi-Wan.

"You mean do I know how to fly what's left of this?" said Anakin. "Strap yourselves in." They all moved to the 'recently' unoccupied chairs of the bridge crew. Anakin scanned over the controls of the ship. The engine flaps shut as he tried to slow the ship into the atmosphere to land down. Suddenly, an explosion rocked the ship dead center. The explosion spread out until the ship's rear tore off in a screech of metal away from the rest of the ship. The ship was now without its primary means of control.

"I think we lost something," said Anakin.

"Not to worry. We're still flying half of a ship," said Obi-Wan. The _Invisible Hand_ now plunged towards the planet's surface, the outer hull glowing red from the heat of traveling through the different layers of the atmosphere.

* * *

The droid in front of Ahsoka and Tia was cut in half from the waist up by the two of them as the skirmish on the street had now gotten to the point of a clean up maneuver. Now that the highly-trained men of the 501st were in the fray, the odds were now stacked firmly in their favor. Rex's twin blasters kept firing near nonstop as he fought alongside Taran who deflected incoming fire for him and the other men.

"Just like old times," said Rex.

"Always like old times," said Taran, grinning to himself. The droids were now down to just a few squads as the men and Jedi cut them to ribbons. Elsewhere the battle was stretching to a close for the Republic forces as well as units such as the 501st, 7th Sky Corps, 41st Elite Corps and other units arrived from off planet to assist. The battles in space and the sky were in the Republic's favor as well as new ships continuously entered from hyperspace to help cripple the Separatist Navy, which was beginning to retreat. This in turn stranded their ground forces on the planet's surface.

Zatt and Petro both jumped onto a super, bringing it down with their momentum before plunging their blades into it. Byph used the Force to push several down onto their back as Ganodi and Gungi cut them to pieces. Petro aided Master Sinube by jumping off his shoulder and stabbing a droid straight through its center, killing it. Katoonie aided by cutting a super in half that was coming up behind him.

Taran moved forward to begin cutting down droids of his own, slashing one in half and deflecting the shots from another droid shooting at his rear with his lightsaber without looking back as he maneuvered towards it to cut the droids legs off and plunge it down into its chest. Bruck and Tia helped finish off the last ones with slash-and-defend tactics they knew all too well. When the last droid fell, they all let out a cheer. The flank had been saved at last.

Taran breathed a sigh of relief at last, sitting on a toppled super to rest. Though his body was definitely screaming at him to rest, he couldn't help but feel elation at what they'd just accomplished.

"We won," he said to himself. A smile played across his lips.

"Taran!" said Ahsoka. She hurried over to him as she stood up, the two embracing into a tight hug. Going into this battle, they thought there was a chance that it all might be over. Now they knew that all such previous thoughts were behind them.

"I'm so glad we're both safe," said Taran.

"Me too," said Ahsoka.

"Come on here you two," said Rex, clapping his hands on both their shoulders as they broke apart. "There's some of that love to go around." The two of them laughed before they heard something. Everyone stopped what they were doing to listen.

"It's coming from the sky," said Katoonie. They all looked up to see what looked like a falling Separatist cruiser streaking down from the clouds towards a location close to the Senate District. The ship passed by overhead billowing smoke and flames from behind it. As it went by, Taran and Ahsoka's eyes widened as they felt the presence aboard the plummeting ship.

"Oh no," said Ahsoka.

"No way," said Taran.

"What? What is it?" said Rex.

"It appears that Master Kenobi and Skywalker are commandeering that vessel," said Sinube.

"Wait! You mean they're flying that?!" said Rex.

* * *

The ship hit the ground of the airfield hard, skidding along the metal surface. The slide completely tore apart the runway, and even a nearby tower. It kept on skidding until finally its momentum ceased and it was brought to a halt. Inside, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Papatine and R2 let out a sigh or beep of relief. Obi-Wan ran his hand through his hair as he fought to keep from having a personal a heart attack.

"Another happy landing," he said. The comment caused Anakin to crack a smile, while the Palpatine looked at the two of them with mysticism and wonder as if asking how these two operated all this time.


	8. Aftermath

The Battle of Coruscant, which raged for nearly an entire day from the atmosphere of the planet to the Undercity, was over. No one knew how many died in the fight, how many lives were lost to defend their home. Only that it reached up to the hundreds of thousands. The battle cost the Republic Fleet numerous vessels and vehicles of all time, and the loss of personnel was staggering.

Despite the Pyrrhic victory, there was cause for celebration. For one, the Separatists lost more droids and weaponry then they cared to lose. General Grievous has been defeated and had turned tail to the Outer Rim. Two other events caused some to celebrate.

The rescue of Chancellor Palpatine.

The death of Count Dooku.

The last one was a cause for hope to be revived in the population. With Dooku dead, the Separatists lost their grand architect. The force holding them all together was severed, and some thought that the faction would split off. For once, everyone thought that victory was close. Despite this feeling, the population on Coruscant knew that they had to restore their planet.

The planet was littered with the wreckage of fallen ships of all kinds from capital ships to starfighters, and the scars of war from the street fighting around the Senate District. Walkers, tanks, speeders, transports, gunships, any vehicles of war lay where they fell. Despite the significance of the victory, clean up efforts had to be carried out.

Yet, there was also a need for vengeance. Led by members of the COMPOR (Commission for the Protection of Republic), the groups would go and find members of a species whose homeworld had joined the Separatists. This was fueled due to the groups of insurrectionists who had helped to spread chaos during the height of the battle.

However, none of that mattered to Taran. As work crews cleaned up in the levels above him, he was desperately searching in the lower levels to find the starfighter Ahsoka was flying on. He had been searching tirelessly for several hours. The sun was already beginning to set.

He climbed down to another level, telling himself that if he didn't find it here he would come back another day. He didn't have to look very far. From below he saw the downed starfighter, dents and scratches as well as the holes left by the buzz droids all around it. He quickly jumped down, hurrying over to the wreck. It was perched on its side on the sidewalk-like street, a small part of it hanging off the side towards even the lower levels below where it would fall to the planet's first surface where no one but the extremely brave would dare go.

Taran looked at the droid socket to find that his little astromech droid was nowhere to be found. The force from the starfighter crashing down here might have finally sprung him out of the socket, but then he might have fell to below the deaths. The force of the fall would indefinitely shatter anything. He fell to his knees next to the starfighter, his hands on the socket. He fought to halt the tears threatening to erupt from his eyes.

_"I'm so sorry R3. I really am,"_ he thought. _"Thank you for everything you've done for me." _As he knelt, he could have sworn he heard the little droid beeping and whistling just as he did before, but he knew it was not so. The tears fell silently from him.

* * *

He got back to the surface, rubbing his eyes to clear them. He looked up to see the sun setting already. The exhaustion was catching up to him, but that was his fault for insisting on going to try and find R3 once the battle drew to a close. Ahsoka had insisted on coming with him, but he told her to go and see if Padme was alright.

He walked by the wrecks of vehicles and droids, getting closer to the hole they had made to stop that force from making an unhindered move to the Temple. Suddenly, heard what sounded like a scuffle going on nearby and the sounds of shouting voices. He drew his lightsaber and ran towards the source. He turned the corner to find seven adult Human males punching and kicking someone on the street. All the men had buzz cuts.

"Hey, stop!" said Taran. They all stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.

"What's going on here?" said Taran, slowly lowering his lightsaber hilt down to his side.

"Just teaching this Separatist scum a lesson," said one of them. Taran noticed they all wore the COMPOR symbol on their breasts. Taran's gaze fell down to the person they were beating up. The person was a Quarren. To his astonishment, he saw that it was the same one that had been leading the insurrectionist group he had come across. The Quarren was bleeding from several open cuts on his head and lips.

"Why are you doing this?" said Taran.

"He's a Quarren," said one of the men simply. At that, Taran knew that these men were not beating the Quarren up because he had been leading them.

"So you're beating him up because of that?" said Taran.

"Why else? Anyway why does this concern you?" said the same man.

"Because you're making a mistake," said Taran. At that the Quarren looked up at Taran.

"It makes no difference to us. Now get back to your Temple and leave this to us," said another man.

"I'm ordering you to step back and leave him alone. He doesn't this deserve to be treated like this," said Taran. "But how would I know that? I don't know if he may have even helped kill soldiers."

"Listen Jedi, we're under orders to sniff out traitors to the Republic. This one's a Quarren, whose people just happen to be friendly with the Seppies despite their realignment back to the Republic. You telling us to stave off him is helping the enemy. Now go back kid," said a man, walking up until he stood in front of Taran. Taran grit his teeth before he activated his lightsaber, startling the men and having the one in front of him.

"You made two mistakes: one, treating me like a child, and two when you were going to beat up a man who helped save lives," said Tara. The Quarren's eyes widened in astonishment.

"What?" said another man.

"Yes, he helped to save lives during the battle. And here you men are beating him just because he's a Quarren? Is this what they're teaching you at COMPOR?" said Taran.

_"He more or less did when he agreed with me to stay out of it,"_ Taran thought.

"U-um," said the man.

"Now all of you get out of here. I may not be a full adult just yet, but I've seen more combat and experienced more things in the war than the seven of you combined! Now get out of here before I report this behavior straight to the top and have you all arrested for being a detriment to the public and have you all locked up! Do I make myself clear?" said Taran. The seven of them were taken aback.

"We're sorry. It won't happen again," said the man. The seven of them immediately ran by him, not one of them looking back. Once Taran saw they were gone he went over to the Quarren's side as he lay on the street struggling to stand up.

"Why did you do that?" he struggled to say. "They had every right to beat me. Why did you intervene?"

"It's not because they didn't have the right; it's because they were doing it for the wrong reason," said Taran, helping him to stand up.

"But why did you lie to them? You knew who I was and what I was doing," said the Quarren. Taran stared at him long before answering.

"I don't know," said Taran. He left the Quarren standing there dumbfounded. He watched Taran leave as he pondered his response.

"What a strange Jedi," he said to himself before he turned to find his way back to his home.

* * *

Ahsoka paced the halls as she waited for Taran to get back. It was now fully nighttime. Bruck, Tia and the younglings were all sitting down on the floor next to her near the mouth of the ziggurat. She had found Padme, the Senator telling her and Senator Organa had evacuated the building right when the battle had started. She was able to talk briefly to her before she went in haste to the Senate Chamber once she heard that the Chancellor was safe. From there Ahsoka went back to the Temple to wait for Taran to get back from his search.

"He's back," said Bruck. Ahsoka turned to see Taran stepping on the final step into the ziggurat. Checking in with Gate Master Jurokk, he came back into the Temple. While the others were newly washed and in new robes and outfits and any wounds patched up and healing quickly, Taran still looked the same as he did when the battle wound down. His clothes had burn marks and soot all over and his face still sported some of the grime from the battle.

"Anything?" said Ahsoka. Taran shook his head. Ahsoka's face saddened.

"Are you okay Taran?" said Bruck.

"I'll be okay. What about the rest of you?" said Taran.

"We're all fine," said Petro.

"I don't know whether to scold the six of you or hug you all for what you did," said Taran, an amused smile playing on his lips as he said the last part. "Where's Master Sinube?"

"He's retired for the night," said Ganodi.

"I need to thank him when he wakes up," said Taran.

"You look exhausted Taran. Maybe you should get to bed," said Tia. Taran nodded.

"We all make one heck of a team," said Taran, smiling. They all smiled back as Ahsoka took his hand and the two made their journey towards his room. As they walked back, they felt the mood of the Temple inhabitants around them. The feeling of mourning was in the air. Six Jedi, three Masters and three Knights, were dead due to the battle. All were known and much beloved by all. Their passing would be mourned for the next few days.

Back at his room, the two walked in. Taran began to take off his upper clothing as Ahsoka stood by a few feet away. His upper robes came off followed by his green shirt. There were some cuts around his body, but prior healing had sealed them and bacta ointment on them overnight would fully heal him. He then began to remove his pants.

"Need me to leave?" said Ahsoka.

"What for? It's not like you haven't seen all of me," said Taran, grinning at her. She rolled her eyes at him, a small blush appearing on her.

"Just wanted to be courteous," said Ahsoka, going towards the bathroom attached to the room. She turned on the shower for him as he fully undressed. Taran went in as she left the room, but not before kissing him quickly. She lay on the bed and waited for him to finish his shower, pondering about the day's events. Questions came into her head. The whole battle itself? The mysterious appearance of the strange clones? What was it all for? Was it pointing to something? She couldn't figure it all out.

Her train of thought went on for so long she didn't even hear Taran finish, or when he entered the room with his pants on and a new green shirt from his wardrobe since Jedi were given several outfits in case of damage.

"What's bothering you?" said Taran, tying one of his dreads.

"About all of this. It still doesn't make sense why they would risk so much of their manpower just to try and get the Chancellor," said Ahsoka.

"It's like what Master Sinube said, risking all for the one goal," said Taran.

"But still, it was too flawed," said Ahsoka. Taran sat on the bed next to her. She sat up and helped him re-braid the hair on the back of his head. She helped him with them whenever she could, knowing how to tie them after the years they spent together.

"I get what you're saying though. I'm more curious to know more about where those clones suddenly came from," said Taran.

"That's also been playing in my mind," said Ahsoka. The two sat in silence for a few moments before Taran spoke again.

"You found Padme?" he asked.

"Yes, she was okay," said Ahsoka. "She had evacuated before we got there."

"That's good to know. I'm glad she's alright. I still can't believe Anakin managed to land half a cruiser," said Taran.

"That's Skyguy for you, always doing the unthinkable," said Ahsoka. The two shared a small laugh before the other events of the day dawned on them.

"I'm sorry about R3 Taran," said Ahsoka. "I truly am."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. In the end, he helped you get through the end. We both owe him more than we can ever repay. I just wish he would have gotten out," said Taran. Ahsoka took his hand, squeezing it.

"I want this war to be over," said Taran quietly. "It has to be over soon. Dooku's dead and Grievous is off hiding. We take him out and it's all over."

"It will. For now, let's be thankful everyone else made it out of this alive," said Ahsoka.

"There's a happy thought," said Taran. He twisted the last dread, his hair now back to its original state.

"You should get some sleep," said Ahsoka. Taran nodded, lying down on the bed. She laid down next to him, putting her arm over his body.

"Can I get to sleep?" Taran asked.

"I'm right here beside you," she said, rubbing his arm soothingly. "Always."

* * *

She awoke to the sound of the door sliding open. Her eyes fluttered open as she turned to her left from her original sleeping position.

"Sorry to disturb you," said Obi-Wan as he stood over them.

"Master Kenobi!" said Ahsoka in a hushed whisper as she sat up and slid off the bed, hugging the Jedi Master.

"I'm glad to see you again Ahsoka, truly," said Obi-Wan, returning the embrace.

"How have you been? Where's Anakin?" said Ahsoka.

"I'm not sure exactly where he's at now. I'm sure you'll see him come tomorrow," said Obi-Wan. "Other than that, I'm feeling a little peachy."

"I bet. Landing a cruiser like that would been the most terrifying yet thrilling thing," said Ahsoka. They shared a small laugh.

"From what I've heard you two were able to do a lot during the battle," said Obi-Wan.

"It wasn't just us," said Ahsoka. Her face saddened as well. "And we lost good people as well." Her thoughts went to Captain Plies, who had helped Taran throughout the battle, and R3.

"We've lost a good deal many people today," said Obi-Wan. His gaze turned to Taran lying in the bed, still asleep. "When I heard what he'd done when we received word you'd been captured, I was practically tearing myself apart with worry. Nothing made me more relieved when I learned you'd been rescued. Is he okay?"

"Yes. He was exhausted trying to find R3 after the battle was over," said Ahsoka.

"Him and Anakin both share an affinity to their astromechs," said Obi-Wan, taking a seat on the bed. "I personally find it intriguing. Any luck finding him?" Ahsoka shook her head.

"I see. The council also informed me on their debate for him," said Obi-Wan. Taran stirred in his sleep before his eyes opened.

"Mmm what's going- Master?" said Taran. Obi-Wan smiled at him.

"Hello Taran," he said. Taran immediately shot up into a seating position.

"Land any cruisers today?" said Taran.

"Cause any sinkholes?" said Obi-Wan. The two laughed.

"It's very good to see you the two of you safe and sound again," said Obi-Wan.

"What happened up there?" said Taran. Obi-Wan filled them in on every detail starting from they're journey to Nelvaan and then their part in the Chancellor's rescue. To say the two were amazed is an understatement. Many questions were asked by them, all of which Obi-Wan answered.

"So now what?" said Taran.

"Now we must find Grievous and bring this conflict one step closer to ending," said Obi-Wan.

"That can't be too hard," said Taran. "Any other news?"

"Just about you. The Council will reconvene tomorrow near midday to decide about you," said Obi-Wan.

"I had a feeling they would," said Taran. "They were going to decided today until the battle occurred."

"Have you thought of your options?" said Obi-Wan. Taran nodded, taking Ahsoka's hand. Obi-Wan smiled.

"When you two first came to me to confirm your relationship, I wanted you to come to your senses and it would end soon. Now I know you are meant to be. I see it both your eyes when you look at each other," said Obi-Wan. He stood up. "The love you two share is special. Cherish it always. I sometimes that maybe...I could have experienced it as well."

"Master," said Taran, standing up as well. "You do. Maybe not romantically, but you still have people around you who love you. Me, Ahsoka, Anakin, Padme. Everything you've for all of us will echo throughout our lives."

"It's sometimes hard, hearing how much you've grown up from that trouble-maker you were two years ago," said Obi-Wan. He ruffled Taran's hair as the two smiled at each other.

"I have to go, but know that I'm on your side. Get a good rest, the both of you," said Obi-Wan.

"We will. Have a good night Master Kenobi," said Ahsoka. He bowed in respect to them and left the room.

"You okay?" said Ahsoka.

"I am. Just thinking," said Taran. "There's so many unanswered questions."

"We'll take our time. They'll be discovered in time," said Ahsoka, laying on her side facing him.

"I sure hope so," said Taran, laying down on his back as his gaze met hers.

"Go to sleep," she commanded gently.

"I don't know if I can. I always was a stubborn one," said Taran.

"Oh really," said Ahsoka. She moved forward till she was on top of him. "How about now?"

"Getting there," said Taran. She laughed before her lips found his. His arms wrapped around her as hers encircled his neck. The two lost themselves in the kiss, never tiring of the feeling. They held it for nearly a minute before they released.

"I think I can now," said Taran, laying back as she laid fully on him. Her head nestled into him as his eyes slowly closed.

"Thank you," said Taran.

"For what?"

"Helping me always remember who I am," said Taran, stroking her lekku. "And being able to be the better part of me."

"And me as well," said Ahsoka. It didn't take too long for them both to fall asleep, still locked in their embrace.

* * *

Palpatine sat at his desk in his office, watching the daily night traffic of the planet pass by as if the battle had never occurred. He sipped his drink slowly, savoring the taste. The door behind slid open, Mas Amedda walking in.

"It's good to have you back Chancellor," said the Vice Chair.

"And it is good to be back as well. Those binders were chafing me somewhat fiercely," said Palpatine. "How did the Spaarti clones fare?"

"There were reports of their accuracy being less than expected and other skills diminished compared to the average soldier cloned on Kamino, but their numbers helped immensely," said Amedda.

"Good. Continue with the cloning program on the moon," said Palpatine.

"Also Chancellor, the Jedi are becoming increasingly restless," said Amedda.

"Let them. Everything is going according to plan," said Palpatine. He sipped again, staring out at the Temple in the distance.

_"Soon,"_ he thought, a small smiled forming on his lips.

**End. **

**Thank you all for your time patience with the story. Review your thoughts on the story. Also two announcements:**

**1) Order 66 WILL be canon. **

**2) The story will be moved to the Star Wars movie page on Fanfiction since technically it will happen past the Clone Wars showing. Go to the Movies page and it's literally the first one. It will still be rated T. Stay tuned for the next epic story to come out of mind. **

**May the Force be with you.**


	9. Update News

Attention fans, the first chapter of Order 66 has been posted! Remember, it is on the main Star Wars page under the movie tab in the rated T section. Major characters involved are Ahsoka, Taran (OC), Anakin, and Obi-Wan. Be prepared .


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